I was a panelist on a recent webinar discussing the navigation of COVID-19 for business owners. One of the final questions in the Q&A segment was, “What is the long-term impact you foresee for women in the workplace? I’m seeing more and more cases of professional women stepping away from the workforce after juggling just got to be too much. What could this look like in five to 10 years?”
The first panelist to answer commented that it was a depressing question and that working women could slide back into a workplace that looks like it did 20 to 25 years ago. I surmise her perspective as an employment attorney having conversations with employers and employees navigating the corporate complexities of COVID-19 framed her answer. A quick Google search for “working mothers in 2020” does tell a sorrowful tale, with headlines such as “Pandemic Could Scar a Generation of Working Mothers” and “2020 Will Be the Death of the Working Mother.”
Teresa Bailey
Conversely, the response that flew out of my mouth as the next panelist to respond was that I was inspired to imagine how women will react over time, despite the challenges they face this year. Top of mind for me was the “10 years from now” part of the question. The day before, I’d pored through a McKinsey Consulting Group study released in July titled “Women as the next wave of growth in U.S. wealth management.” The study highlighted that the amount of wealth U.S. women control now ($10 trillion) will almost triple over the next decade. That massive transfer of resources also means that more women than ever before will become investors, and they will choose the companies deserving of their investment.
This August, coincidentally, we also celebrated the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, guaranteeing and protecting women’s constitutional right to vote. The country held socially distanced celebrations, erected statues, and the city of Philadelphia even declared themselves the “City of Sisterly Love” for all of 2020. This tribute not only recognized women’s suffrage in 1920 but also that women of color waited until 1965 for the same right to vote.
One hundred years after their first represented vote, women now make up 7.8 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs, as CNN reported in May. During those years from 1920 to 2020, millions of women climbed the ladder in corporate America, despite steep challenges. Some also opted out of the climb altogether and started their own business. In fact, as of 2019, 42 percent of U.S. businesses were owned by women, according to the annual State of Women-Owned Businesses Report. By 110 years after that first vote, McKinsey Consulting projects women will control the majority of financial assets that baby boomers currently possess.
Putting those pieces together gives me an optimistic outlook for working women in America. Although working mothers may lose footing in the workforce due to the pressures of this pandemic, with more seats in company boardrooms and, over the next decade, more votes as company shareholders, women stand to gain substantial influence in corporate America.
When the likely wave of women returns to the workforce once this pandemic passes, what new problem-solving and juggling skills will they bring with them? Which companies will see the unique skill set of women as desirable and focus their resources on finding innovative ways for women to balance their family and business goals? Perhaps 10 years from now, the price that COVID-19 working women paid today will be recognized as the cost required to inspire women to invest in women.
Teresa Bailey, CFP, CDFA, is Director of Development and Wealth Strategist at Waddell & Associates. She can be reached at tbailey@waddellandassociates.com.