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Building Resilient Workforces
Overview
It is no secret that women’s participation in the workforce throughout the global economy took a huge hit during COVID-19 pandemic.
Even more worrying is the continued—and jaw-dropping—lag in women returning to work, as reported recently by Axios. This represents a very real and problematic damper on economic growth at a time when businesses are scrambling to hire more workers.
What occurred during COVID-19 demonstrates how the outsized burden of caregiving and household duties can make women far more vulnerable when a crisis hits. The same may be true for extreme weather and climate-related impacts into the future if intentional improvements in gender diversity across all multinational corporations is not improved.
While data specifically on workers who left sustainability careers during the panedemic is hard to come by, we do know that sustainability as a profession—especially in large companies—is dominated by women. Fifty-eight percent of sustainability executives in large companies are female, according to GreenBiz. This adds to the urgency to consider women as central to climate action, and to find ways to help women build resilience as a workforce. COVID-19 also illustrated the increased importance of sustainability for investors, significantly increasing business demand for sustainability professionals.
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