Marty Walsh Is the Man to End the She-cession

Almost a year into the Covid-19 pandemic, the U.S. faces unemployment numbers that should rattle Americans to the core. Women have been hit especially hard. As 2021 begins, we are well into a “she-cession” with no clear exit strategy. Employers cut 140,000 jobs in December and women accounted for all the job losses, losing 156,000 jobs while men gained 16,000. Black and Latina women have borne the brunt of these losses.

President Joe Biden has nominated Boston Mayor Marty Walsh to fix this mess as Secretary of Labor. This is no small appointment. The secretary will have to tackle both the short-term drop in female employment as well as its long-term implications, which some experts estimate will outlast the pandemic by as much as a decade.