Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1337485
"I want to be a role model for my daughter and show her a woman can succeed as much as a man. But being a woman is hard. We have to juggle it all. And the pandemic is stretching us very, very thin." —Erika Martinez, former president of Liberty Teachers Association While the surging virus has taken a toll on the overall job market — the Labor Department reported in Decem- ber the loss of 140,000 non-farming jobs, a monthly job loss for the first time since April — women are bearing the brunt of the pandemic's impact. at's because they are disproportionately employed in the service and health care industries, which have been hit the hardest, in addition to having family obligations. Four times as many women as men dropped out of the labor force in September — roughly 865,000 women compared with 216,000 men — mostly due to the need for child care, according to a Center for American Prog- ress report, "How COVID-19 Sent Women's Workforce Progress Backward." With schools and day care facilities closed in the pandemic, someone has to stay home with children and oversee distance learning. The lower-salaried spouse, usually the woman due to gender inequity in the work- place, typically fills that role. According to "The Hidden Impact of COVID-19 on Educators," a report by Horace Mann published in December, 27 percent of teachers are considering quit- ting — at least temporarily — because of COVID. is mirrors a 2020 study by the Lean In organization, which found a quarter of women working in corporate America are considering "downshifting" their careers or leaving their jobs because of the pandemic. Some are cutting back e Lean In report found mothers with young children have arranged work hour reductions that are four to five times greater than fathers in the age of COVID. Katina Rondeau, a single mother, is among women in the workforce who have reduced hours and taken a Erika Martinez with her daughter Grace. pay cut during the pandemic. She teaches an indepen- dent study program at Hilltop High School in San Diego for students who are not able to succeed in the regular classroom, and was named Teacher of the Year in 2007 and 2018 by her district. S h e w a s m a n a g i n g t o t e a c h re m o t e ly w ith h e r 9-year-old son at home, says the Sweetwater Education Association member. But then her school requested that in addition to teaching online classes, Rondeau come to campus each day to work with students doing credit recovery under a "canopy" that offered connectivity to their devices. She had no one to care for her son, so she declined the extra hours after already taking a 30 percent pay reduction, due to cuts made to her program during the pandemic. "I asked myself, 'Is it really worth it?'" recalls Rondeau, who has a master's in special education. "If we were to be called back, my son would be able to go to school in a hybrid model just a few days a week and I would be expected to work every day. How is that possible with- out child care? I was also worried about exposing my child — and myself — to COVID. So I decided to continue working at home, have my child stay home, and work fewer hours." Union protection helps CTA chapters are demanding safe working conditions. And by working remotely, some teachers like Rondeau 33 F E B R U A R Y / M A R C H 2 0 21