. from 1950 to 1970, more women entered the workforce, but many did not plan to work for the long term, and their investment in education and training was often limited. 4 by the mid - 1970s, barriers that limited opportunities for women in many workplaces began to fall, and by 1990 the education gap between men and women narrowed significantly. women ’ s participation steadily increased from there until the gains leveled off in the 1990s, but then rose again from 2015 to 2020, just before the pandemic. the narrowing of educational attainment for men and women had a lot to do with the narrowing of participation rates over the decades, and today women are more likely than men to hold a bachelor ’ s degree. even so, before the pandemic, overall participation remained lower for women than men regardless of education level. see claudia golden ( 2021 ), career & family : women ’ s century - long journey toward equity ( princeton, nj : princeton university press ). see claudia goldin ( 2006 ), “ the quiet revolution that transformed women ’ s employment, education, and family, ” american economic review, vol. 96 ( 2 ), pp. 1 – 21. - 4the response to the covid - 19 pandemic caused the most abrupt decline in employment in the history of this nation. 5 the lockdowns and other government restrictions on businesses severely limited work, education, and travel. in february 2020, over 60 percent of working - age people had a job or were looking for work, but by april it was closer to half that amount. the pandemic hit all sectors of the economy, but the toll was especially heavy on in - person, close - contact service industries — restaurants, hotels, airline travel, and retail businesses other than big box stores, grocery stores and pharmacies. these in - person service - industry jobs were considered more conducive to spreading covid - 19, they were more affected by government - mandated shutdowns and social distancing, and teleworking was generally not possible. unlike any previous recession, the downturn in employment fell more heavily on women than men. the unemployment rates for men and women were essentially the same before the pandemic but ended up much higher for women. 6 that was very different from past recessions. for example, after the recession following the housing crisis, unemployment for prime working age men rose to 11 percent, compared to only 9 percent for prime age women.

7 the women ’ s labor force participation rate is another way to measure their presence in the workforce. women have made significant progress in closing the gap with men since the 1960s, including in the five years before the pandemic, but that gap in just two months, the unemployment rate rose from 3. 5 percent to 14. 7 percent. while unemployment was higher during the great depression of the 1930s, it never rose this quickly. unemployment rose to 16. 1 percent for women but only 13. 5 percent for men in april 2020. the u. s. department of labor define prime age workers as those 25 - 54. - 5reopened after the onset of covid - 19. 8 the number of both prime working age men and women in the labor force plunged, but the drop was half a million larger for women. from what we know now, there appear to be two main reasons why the pandemic downturn affected women more than men. first, even after the dramatic employment gains over the past 50 years, women are still most often the primary caregivers to children and other family members. they shouldered most of the childcare burden from the covid school closures. second, a higher proportion of women worked in and continue to be employed in positions in the high - contact service sectors that were hit hardest by the pandemic. caregiving burdens in the united states have always fallen more heavily on women. in the 20 years before the pandemic, roughly one - fourth of prime - age women with children didn ’ t participate in the workforce. an even larger share of women with children under five were primarily engaged in childcare. many women with children tend to cycle in and out of employment based on their family ’ s childcare demands. women are significantly affected by the summer childcare burdens of families with children. each year between may and july, when schools close for the summer, the employment - to - population ratio for prime age women declines by more than a percentage point and then rebounds when schools reopen in the fall. that difference is one - third of the total drop that prime - age women experienced following a very bad recession, the one following the housing crisis. 9 part of the reason women closed the participation gap with prime working age men after 1965 is that participation by this cohort of men gradually declined. major reasons for this decline in prime age male participation likely were increasing trade, globalization, and technological changes that reduced the number of