A Woman’s View from the Street 2/9/21

Happy Tuesday!

Just a reminder that this week we have a virtual happy hour with Downward Dog Wine’s founder Betsy Hendershot. We will learn about her journey to entrepreneurship and then move into breakout rooms for networking. If you want to join us in tasting her wines, they are available at Central Market and Specs across Texas.

I write a lot about gender and race inequality in the workplace. I am passionate about this because not only is it a human issue, but it is also an economic one that hurts all of us. As my readers know, the IMF has done the most exhaustive studies on what this does to global GDP, and last week the San Francisco Federal Reserve published a study that noted the damage to the US economy. The numbers are shockingly high. To quote: “Racial and gender disparities have resulted in growing losses to the U.S. economy that amounted to $2.6 trillion in 2019, according to a new study co-authored by Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly. The study estimated economic costs from persistent education and labor-market gaps over time, finding losses have grown from $1.9 trillion in 1990 as the U.S. population has become more racially diverse. U.S. gross domestic product totaled $21.4 trillion in 2019.” The bottom line is that racial and gender inequality in the workplace is lopping almost 10% off GDP growth, so if we want to figure out how to stimulate the economy, this is a great place to start. The full article can be found here.

On the subject of inequality in the workplace, the New York Times did a whole section on the crisis facing American mothers. To quote: “Almost 1 million mothers have left the workforce — with Black mothers, Hispanic mothers and single mothers among the hardest hit. Almost one in four children experienced food insecurity in 2020, which is intimately related to the loss of maternal income. And more than three quarters of parents with children ages 8 to 12 say the uncertainty around the current school year is causing them stress.” While the proposed $3,000 credit is a good start, with lack of affordable childcare and policies protecting working mothers, there is no end in sight to the issue.

We have all been experiencing some level of emotional burnout from the pandemic, working moms have it worse because they are also dealing with societal betrayal. Betrayal is a big word, and one that fits. Our lack of support for their plight is leaving moms today with choices no one should have to make for their children. The full article can be found here.

For those of you who don’t have young children at home right now, the article here shares the story of three working mothers and the Sisyphean task are facing day in and day out. And for those working parents, the last article in the series focuses on your workplace rights and can be found here.

Next week we will be hosting Michele Smith, RYT for her coveted Resiliency Training Workshop because resilience is something we all need. Michele will share techniques that can be used in just a few minutes each day to help improve stress levels. We also have a series of happy hours with the TXWSW board so you can get to know us better and give us your feedback. Check out our site for more details.

I would ask each of you to consider corporate sponsorship of TXWSW. Benefits include attendance at our flagship events and recognition for your firm.  And most importantly, you help us support the life-changing work of the Young Women’s Preparatory Network. To learn more about YWPN, you can find a short video here. To learn more and sponsorship, you may find our sponsor information here. Additionally, we would be happy to create a custom sponsorship for you. Please contact Bianca King at developmentdirector@txwsw.com

Kind regards

Christine

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