President’s Column by Johanna Schiavoni
DON’T LET A COVID-19 “GENDER TAX” SET WOMEN BACK — A CALL TO ACTION FOR LEADERS IN THE LAW AND BEYOND
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ike many of you, my daily routine has been dramatically and potentially permanently changed by COVID-19. Working from home in the midst of a global pandemic is fraught with many unknowns about when, how, and for some, if we will return to working in an office. I’ve traded in my daily commute for virtual and telephonic meetings, and even more email. Children are not yet back to classroom learning, and most have had their typical summer activities canceled. Government guidance still encourages maximizing teleworking where possible. And, some law firms and other legal employers may determine that for them, remote work is the future.
are the breadwinners. “Women are still considered the primary parent, the lead parent, responsible for the dayto-day tasks, responsible for thinking, planning, and managing.” 2 That results in a lot of “invisible labor.”
Given these shifts, I’ve been considering whether there is an uneven impact — or “gender tax” — in how COVID-19 has shaped our new reality. And, what does this mean for women lawyers in the quest for more equal footing in the legal profession?
I challenge you to consider two key questions:
As I travel from virtual meeting to virtual meeting, I see and hear the fatigue setting in for many of my colleagues, clients, and friends. But where I see it most is in women, especially working moms. Though all of us have been sheltering in place, the stark reality remains that the vast majority of caretaking for children and others, coupled with day-today household responsibilities, has historically fallen and continues to fall on women. Emerging research highlights that there remains a “grotesque” imbalance in sharing childcare and home responsibilities.1 Women do twice the housework and childcare — even when working full-time and even when they 8
SAN DIEGO LAWYER
To make meaningful shifts in culture, change must occur rapidly.3 That may seem counterintuitive — but if it takes a long time to shift culture and if the work is done only incrementally, this signals a lack of commitment and priority. It will feel insincere and is bound to fail. To create an enduring path toward greater equities for women in the workplace and in the practice of law, we must embrace this time of rapid change.
• Can we, as a profession, use COVID-19 as a catalyst to rethink long-standing practices that perpetuate significant gender inequality in the profession? • What can you do to raise your own consciousness to resist this implicit, and sometimes even explicit, gender bias? Here are some concrete ideas and strategies to consider in tackling these issues.
Incorporate flexibility, including continuing teleworking, into employees’ work regardless of gender Economists already have started exploring how a pandemic of this magnitude will affect society, including resulting gender disparities. A recent study reveals that even where men and women work in professions
| May/June 2020
where telecommuting opportunity is similar, prior to COVID-19, women more frequently opted for telework.4 When remote work first came into vogue, it was stigmatized as an accommodation. We must disavow that notion. Instead, the pandemic forced employers to go “remote” almost overnight, and demonstrated how we can reshape work to give employees control, flexibility, and responsibility. But, expectations must not continue to bake in old gender norms about who “needs” the flexibility. Treat employees evenly on this ground, and don’t make gender-based assumptions.
Take care not to perpetuate gender stereotypes because of how you treat men Studies show that men anticipate needing time off from work to give care at the same levels women do, but they don’t take it. This is “because our policies and our workplace cultures don’t support that.” 5 So, to effectuate change in your workplace, leaders must create the policies, cultures, and shift in attitudes to enable more equitable treatment. Several of San Diego’s chambers of commerce have been focused on childcare issues in recent years as a policy issue vital to leveling gender and socioeconomic gaps in our local economy, and I applaud those efforts. To make meaningful change in the legal profession, it is imperative that as a leader, your organization thinks, plans, and develops strategies around a return to work that does not exacerbate gender imbalances on this front.