What is the ‘she-cession’ and why experts are warning it isn’t over just yet

While statistics suggests a jobs recovery for women, the data fails to capture the whole picture in which many women are still struggling to balance work and family life.

When Alicia Dempster started her maternity leave in June 2019, she never dreamed that she would still be at home two and a half years later.

The Stouffville, Ont. woman fully intended to return to her job as an event planner for an area municipality after 15 months at home caring for her baby son and his toddler brother.

But COVID-19 derailed those plans. When her planned return-to-work date rolled around, the complete absence of public events meant the job she once had no longer existed. The alternative work her employer offered her — cutting grass and picking weeds with the parks department — seemed a poor match for her skills, so she opted to stay home “just a little longer.”

Now, her sons are five and two and a half and the Omicron variant is on the rise.

Like many Canadian women, Dempster is not only concerned about how long she’s been out of the workforce, but should she find a job, she knows she’ll be juggling the demands of work and parenting, including COVID tests and mandatory isolation every time one of her children gets a cough or the sniffles.

While recent data suggests a jobs recovery for working age women, the statistics fail to capture the whole picture, one in which many women are still struggling to balance work and family life.

Early in the pandemic, much was written about the disproportionate toll of COVID-19 on the finances and career prospects of Canadian women. Female-dominated industries like accommodation and food services were the hardest-hit by restrictions and lockdowns, and many women also suffered from a lack of child care as daycares and schools shut down in the pandemic’s early months.

Even one year on, in March of 2021, employment among women remained about 5.3 per cent below where it sat in February 2020, compared to a drop of about 3.7 per cent for men, according to a report from the Labour Market Information Council.