By Samantha Todd | Forbes | November 2, 2021
The Covid-19 pandemic has taken an especially heavy toll on women around the world. By January 2021, nearly 3 million women had dropped out of the workforce in the U.S. alone. Worldwide, women lost more than 64 million jobs and at least $800 billion in earnings last year. As a result, the time it will take to close the global gender pay gap has increased from 99.5 years to 135.6 years, according to the World Economic Forum.
The issues are achingly familiar: inadequate childcare, the double shift of managing work and home, stress, a lack of opportunities, low pay and more. In many cases, Covid merely amplified that burden to the point that many women left.
And yet from this devastating crisis has come some of the most meaningful signs of progress. Congress is debating support for childcare and eldercare. Remote work has grown from being a perk to a priority. While the talent shortage is making it harder to find caregivers, it’s also enabling smart employers to make their efforts to promote and support women as a magnet for attracting talent.
Forbes has teamed up with market research company Statista to identify the companies leading the way when it comes to trying to support women inside and outside their workforces with our inaugural ranking of the World’s Top Female-Friendly Companies. The list was compiled by surveying 85,000 women in 40 countries. Respondents were asked to rate their employers on criteria such as pay equity and parental leave. Statista also asked women to assess how companies use their platforms and marketing messages: to promote gender equality or to perpetuate negative stereotypes? Representation at the executive and board levels were taken into account, too.
