The Coming Setback for Women in the Workplace

An executive at a major French cosmetics company told me she’s been running a team of 70 and overseeing her kids’ schooling while her husband, a nurse, works long hours treating coronavirus patients in a Paris hospital. Another executive, at an energy company, has been working full-time—as well as doing all the cooking and cleaning, and making sure her kids take their online classes—because her husband doesn’t pull his weight. The chief executive of a French lifestyle website and her partner have managed to take care of their young daughters only because she isn’t working full-time and has put her employees on France’s part-time-unemployment scheme.

All three say their career has been under strain since France went into lockdown in March. All three have struggled to balance responsibilities at home. And with restrictions slowly lifting, all three hope the government and the country’s workplaces will ensure that they and other women don’t burn out or leave the labor market.

France is an important warned that COVID-19 risked reversing decades of progress concerning gender equality in the workforce.