Speaker 1: You're listening to Comedy Central. The COVID nineteen pandemic has
Speaker 1: ravaged the US economy, with millions out of work, and
Speaker 1: much like underwire and microblading, it's disproportionately hurting women. Economist
Speaker 1: Olga Sharkoff told me why. Since the February about two
Speaker 1: and a half million women left the workforce. Two and
Speaker 1: a half million. That's right, wasn't that job loss of Wow?
Speaker 1: Even when it comes to unemployment, women are overachieving. For decades,
Speaker 1: women have been chipping away at the blast ceiling, joining
Speaker 1: the labor force in greater numbers with each year until
Speaker 1: the pandemic, which has reduced the percentage of working women
Speaker 1: to nineteen levels. The question is why is this happening?
Speaker 1: While my interview with Dr Darashawna mat Lingam provided one
Speaker 1: compelling reason why the pandemic is one of the reasons
Speaker 1: that I just needed to step back from my research.
Speaker 1: We lost childcare for several months. Um, sorry, I can,
Speaker 1: I couldn't quite hear. There was a bit of a
Speaker 1: leg something in the background. Um, that's my three year
Speaker 1: old sons with a Lego train car. So sorry, hold,
Speaker 1: I know it's it's my I think it's my background
Speaker 1: is that the trash impactor. They're better not be any
Speaker 1: Ninjagos in there. There were Ninjagos in there. Thanks to
Speaker 1: school closures and childcare disruptions, mothers are stepping back from
Speaker 1: the workforce in large numbers, and not because they want to.
Speaker 1: I think we really need to move away from this
Speaker 1: idea of personal choice. If you have to choose between
Speaker 1: bringing home a paycheck to feed your family and you know,
Speaker 1: avoiding a deadly disease, that's not a choice. No, it's
Speaker 1: it's not. And it doesn't matter if you're young, old, black, white,
Speaker 1: or that slick bitch and the next apartment that keeps
Speaker 1: eyeing my husband. This affects you. My research has been
Speaker 1: focused on infectious disease and incarcerated populations, and so I
Speaker 1: were looking at sort of how can we improve testing
Speaker 1: and support for these individ jewels who are very vulnerable
Speaker 1: to getting infected. So you were researching COVID and you
Speaker 1: had to take a step back. Yeah, I mean it
Speaker 1: was a very difficult decision. God, think of all that
Speaker 1: you could have accomplished in this past year if you
Speaker 1: had full time COVID safe child care, Like I know
Speaker 1: for me, I just know I would have been able
Speaker 1: to finish my one woman show from home hom Alton.
Speaker 1: My whole life is in this room where it happens.
Speaker 1: This room where it happens, This room where it happens. Yeah,
Speaker 1: art is important. So millions of women have just been
Speaker 1: a year stuck at home workshopping our dream projects with
Speaker 1: our kids instead of with audiences or producers. And much
Speaker 1: like a stoned Elon Musk tweet, this could affect the
Speaker 1: whole economy. Women leaving the workforce means that these women
Speaker 1: are now losing the skills that they had and becoming
Speaker 1: less productive, and so that could affect actually, um they
Speaker 1: empire economy and economic growth for years to come. Even
Speaker 1: when and who are still working are experiencing sort of
Speaker 1: hidden burdens that they're doing this dual role. They no, no,
Speaker 1: you can't have a snack. You just say you can't
Speaker 1: have a snack. They have to work and at the
Speaker 1: same time take care of their children, and so there
Speaker 1: are also mental health repercussions. Something's gotta given. No, he
Speaker 1: can't know he can't have a snack. So how do
Speaker 1: we fix this before moms across America just lose it?
Speaker 1: Asking for a friend. I can't. No, you can't. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know what, you have a snack, Have a snack,
Speaker 1: Have all the snacks. Dr Churchkov says it's going to
Speaker 1: take a lot of work COVID ning highlight and an
Speaker 1: exacerbated longstanding structural gender and racial and ethnic gaps that
Speaker 1: need to be addressed, and not to mention women. I
Speaker 1: think have learned. Yes, oh my goodness, you want me
Speaker 1: to google. We're looking up a Pokemon, which is my
Speaker 1: other new PhD level area of extra tief. Um so
Speaker 1: where was I? Yes, if we would like to see
Speaker 1: things yet better, we need institutions policymakers to pay attention
Speaker 1: to childcare and expand access to childcare. Shoot, I had
Speaker 1: a question off of that. Actually, sorry made my producer Sarah,
Speaker 1: the question of women. Haven't I definitely haven't written down
Speaker 1: in here. I remember when we came up to that question. Yeah. Sorry,
Speaker 1: but yeah, you get your handsful. It's okay, Oh boy, okay,
Speaker 1: I'm prepared. Mommy's working well. One thing is certain the
Speaker 1: pandemic has shown is that the system is broken and
Speaker 1: women need institutional support. Something has to be done, probably
Speaker 1: by someone who doesn't have kids at home. The daily
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Speaker 1: podcast