Why the pandemic has led to denigration of women's rights - Hannah Strawbridge

I didn’t want to be defined as someone who shouted out about women’s rights, particularly when most of my business clients bought into me on the basis that I could match them on Yorkshire-style straight-talking bluntness, the odd swear word and making it very clear that we wouldn’t be messed about with, where employees took the proverbial.

My own unconscious biases said that female equality didn’t sit well with a no-nonsense style of legal advice.

However, Covid-19 has resulted in women’s rights at work being denigrated and we all have to bang the drum now, because the evidence is overwhelming.

This isn’t about blaming anyone, or about being anti-men, it is about all of us opening our eyes to what is going on and how it impacts women at work, particularly in senior leadership positions, and the negative consequences of that for all of us, for business and for the world economy.

Women are 50 per cent more likely than men to lose their jobs as a result of the pandemic, whether because they are more likely to have been made redundant, or because they have quit their jobs, sometimes perhaps because the brunt of home-schooling had become too much to juggle with work, or their partner’s job paid more.

Businesses opened and we were all encouraged to go back to work, however schools remained closed.

Pubs were opened, but grandparents weren’t able to look after their grandchildren whilst their parents worked.

Now we are all being encouraged to ‘get back in to the office’, to get back to the daily commute to keep our city centres going, even though working from home might be better for individuals and businesses and society in general. With more women decision makers within the cabinet, would these decisions have still been made?

Interestingly, research by the American Psychological Association this year, following a qualitative and quantitative analyses of United States governors, has linked women’s leadership with fewer deaths during the Covid-19 crisis.

The article suggests that women tend to be preferred over men as leaders during uncertain times, because qualities that make a leader effective when circumstances are smooth differ from leadership characteristics needed in a crisis, and women seem to navigate uncharted waters better than men.

This is suggested as being because women’s democratic leadership style and empathy result in cooperative decision-making in a crisis, whilst at the same time promoting psychological safety in the messages they communicate to a fearful public.

It’s easy to criticise during challenging times which is not the aim here, but there is strong evidence to suggest that diverse leadership teams in business improve profitability and it is difficult not to join up the dots between a near all-male cabinet with women’s rights setting us back years as a result of Covid-19.

But what can we do?

Business owners – we can pledge to support positive change. We can agree to publish the percentage of women being made redundant as a result of the crisis. We can think twice before heeding Boris’s suggestion that we all must return into the office, if it doesn’t suit business or the individual.

Government – you can promote diversity in your ranks and lead by example.

For those whose ears are sensitive to the drumming, the buy-in has to be that acting now to improve the situation will have a massive impact on the global economy, and society in general.

This isn’t about women; it is about all of us.

Hannah Strawbridge - CEO and founder of Han Law Co

Support The Yorkshire Post and become a subscriber today.

Your subscription will help us to continue to bring quality news to the people of Yorkshire. In return, you'll see fewer ads on site, get free access to our app and receive exclusive members-only offers.

So, please - if you can - pay for our work. Just £5 per month is the starting point. If you think that which we are trying to achieve is worth more, you can pay us what you think we are worth. By doing so, you will be investing in something that is becoming increasingly rare. Independent journalism that cares less about right and left and more about right and wrong. Journalism you can trust.

Thank you

James Mitchinso