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This pandemic and its accompanying economic crisis and care crisis are unlike anything we have seen – the path forward cannot be business as usual. And it is precisely the time to lean into a deep understanding of how race and gender shape our economy.
This means addressing women dominated jobs that have been hard hit–e.g. retail, hospitality and care. It requires addressing the shedding of state and local public sector jobs, also women dominated. Addressing that women are majority of frontline, essential workers.
It also requires taking on the care crisis – the closing of childcare centers, the vulnerability of domestic workers, and the women leaving the workforce in droves because it is IMPOSSIBLE to actually work, care and teach at the same time.
The Biden-Harris Administration has a chance to rethink who is leading our economic conversation. Following the reports of women in the mix for key economic roles, there is a chance to bring a sense of the broader economy and the way it is shaped by race and gender.
There is Heather Boushey, executive director and chief economist of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth - she has been raised for National Economic Council and Council of Economic Advisors. https://www.vogue.com/article/heather-boushey-finding-time
There is Lisa Cook, a Michigan academic who served as chief economist for the Council of Economic Advisers in the Obama Administration and whose name has been floated for a return to CEA. https://www.axios.com/joe-biden-white-house-treasury-secretary-economy-3dd2f007-b39b-4116-a4ec-4b56a082244e.html
And there are multiple women floated to lead the Treasury Department! In the midst of what my friend @cnicolemason coined a she-cession, we need those deep economic chops to include gender and race contours.
That's right, I'm saying let's put women in charge of the economy.
That's right, I'm saying let's put women in charge of the economy.
The pandemic has made visible the many longstanding underlying weaknesses in our economy. And women are at a breaking point - meaning our families and our economy are too. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/17/business/economy/women-jobs-economy-recession.html
