Gender, Labor, and the Pandemic

null, Judy Fudge (McMaster University), Gina Schouten (Harvard University), null, Gina Schouten

Many research groups and news outlets have warned that the pandemic is having an unequal economic effect on women and men. Studies are still underway, but some of the initial data is striking: for example, four times as many women dropped out of the US labor force in September 2020 as men. Reasons cited include a reduced availability of child-care and increased domestic burdens. Studies of labor in the aftermath of World War Two showed that temporary changes to the gendered distribution of compensated labor had transformative effects on gender norms. Now we find ourselves confronted by a new set of changes to the distribution of labor. Will these changes be temporary? Should we be concerned about the impact of the pandemic on gender norms, and on the division of labor, both in the home and in compensated work? How has the pandemic aggravated existing forms of gender inequality in the workplace? What changes to labor law and state policy are required to secure sustainable and equitable work post-pandemic? How might we imagine a better future for women at work?

We invite you to join us for a live panel with Judy Fudge (McMaster University), and Gina Schouten (Harvard University). Judy Fudge is the LIUNA Enrico Henry Mancinelli Professor in Global Labour Issues at McMaster University, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. She has published extensively in labor law, including on topics of gender, immigration, and precarious work. Gina Schouten is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Harvard University and researches issues in social and political philosophy and ethics, including the gendered division of labor. She is the author of the 2019 book, Liberalism, Neutrality, and the Gendered Division of Labor (Oxford University Press).

In a conversation moderated by Simone Gubler (University of Nevada, Reno), the panelists will discuss their research on gender and labor as it bears on unfolding events and the prospect of a post-pandemic world.

This event is part of the PPE in a Time of Pandemic series and is open to the public.