‘You’re not alone’ losing ground to covid
As virus-related hits heavily impact women, many deal with job loss, virtual school and being primary caregivers for family
Quarantining at home wasn’t new to Aasta Deth when the COVID-19 virus descended on Pittsburgh. As schools and businesses shut down in March, the artist and craft entrepreneur was finishing treatments for breast cancer.
“I had been in self-imposed isolation because my immune system was shot,” said Ms. Deth, 37, of Natrona Heights.
Still, the pandemic upended her life.
Suddenly her children, 5 and 8, were home all day and she was overseeing remote school lessons. A quilting supply firm she owns with her mother, The Stencil Co., is largely mail order, but the women had to cancel a major trade show they were managing scheduled for late March. “I was on the phone all day, had to learn contract law to get out of contracts and had to issue refunds,” said Ms. Deth.
Her husband, Daniel Kuhn, kept running Ton Pottery, the couple’s studio and retail outlet in Millvale, until the state ordered nonessential businesses to close.
Ms. Deth is one of millions of women experiencing a disproportionate impact from the pandemic, according to multiple studies. A July report from the McKinsey Global Institute said women make up 54% of overall job losses during the COVID-19 crisis and continue to carry more of the load for child and elder care.
Women’s jobs were 19% more at risk than men’s because more women are employed in hard-hit sectors such as food service and hospitality, according to the McKinsey study.
“The struggle continues,” said Susan Showalter-Bucher, director of programs at Pennsylvania Women Work, a Downtown nonprofit that assists women with job searches and interviewing skills.
As PA Women Work ramped up its online classes and virtual mentoring opportunities, she held out hope the pandemic would be a short-term setback to women’s earning power and career advancement.
But after four months of counseling clients, Ms. Showalter-Bucher said panic is setting in.
“Some people were furloughed, and it looks like some of those could turn into permanent layoffs,” she said. “Others trying to get a job are being put on hold by companies who said they’re not doing anything until they are back in the office.”
On top of employment issues, women are feeling pressures about whether schools and child care centers will fully reopen and who will stay home if they don’t. In two-parent households, “It may be inevitable for one of them to step out of the workforce,” said Megan Rose, director of the Center for Women in Squirrel Hill.
Many women already earn less than male spouses and handle more caregiving duties, so they frequently are the ones who quit their jobs or scale back hours. “And that impacts women’s income, retirement savings and career trajectory,” said Ms. Rose.
The Center for Women shifted its financial coaching and mentoring classes to online formats during the pandemic and has added workshop topics like how to address COVID-19 precautions when selecting child care, navigating options for school reopenings and estate planning, which has generated lots of interest from nurses and teachers, said Ms. Rose.
The mother of two children, almost 2 and 5, Ms. Rose since March has led a virtual Working Moms’ Coffee.
The group sprung from a new mothers network based at Kids Plus Pediatrics, Greenfield, and held its first in-person session just before stay-at-home mandates were issued.
Ms. Rose quickly adapted it to a virtual format. “I sensed working moms would need ongoing support ... to feel you’re not alone,” she said.
Ms. Deth is a member and said she stayed in “constant contact” with the group early in the pandemic to share information about unemployment benefits and government loans for small
“The bigger share of family tasks fall to the mother and that’s been magnified by [the pandemic],” she said. “I think it will set women back in the workplace for decades.”
businesses — and for encouragement.
“It’s really hard to be a working parent now,” she said. “The struggles are unimaginable.”
After Ton Pottery shut down classes and its retail store, it offered take-home pottery kits and instructional videos for sale.
Ms. Deth collaborated with other entrepreneurs she knew from the Working Moms’ Coffee to create mail-order “Quarantine Small Biz Boxes.” A stay-athome box might include a Ton Pottery mug, a book from a local book shop and tea or coffee from a local cafe; other themes include shaving products and nature-gardening supplies all produced locally.
While e-commerce has provided some revenues, her family’s income has taken a significant hit.
The quilting business qualified for a loan from the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program; the studio got a deferral on an existing loan from lender Bridgeway Capital and a couple of small grants from nonprofit business accelerator New Sun Rising and the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan fund.
The retail space in Ton Pottery’s studio is for sale.
Her family has chosen a virtual education option for the first nine weeks in part because of risks to her immune system. “The bigger share of family tasks fall to the mother, and that’s been magnified by [the pandemic],” she said. “I think it will set women back in the workplace for decades.”
Pharmacy vs. phonics
For Brittany Radomski, a floating pharmacist who also belongs to the Working Moms’ Coffee, the pandemic has resulted in cutting her working hours by 75% to be home when her son starts kindergarten.
The family picked a hybrid option offered by the Fox Chapel School District that includes two days in a classroom and three days at home. Ms. Radomski, 36, of O’Hara, will also care for her 2-year-old daughter at home.
The family’s nanny is leaving, and Ms. Radomski and her husband, a physician, determined it was too expensive to pay a replacement for child care and to oversee her son’s education.
She will be available one night a week and weekends for shifts at Rite-Aid when other pharmacists are sick or on vacation. Her husband, who sometimes works 60 hours a week, will take on more child care so she can work.
Ms. Radomski is grateful she can schedule flexible hours and that her husband has a full-time income. But she didn’t expect to reduce her earning power so dramatically. She also worries about helping with virtual learning for her son, Derek.
“The number of times I’ve walked into a crazy pharmacy far outweighs the times I’ve taught phonics,” she said. “I think I’m more comfortable running a busy pharmacy.”
Coping with isolation
Sheryl Austin believes she contracted COVID-19 at a church service in midMarch.
Her symptoms were not severe enough to be hospitalized, but the social isolation she experienced while recovering and quarantining at home for seven weeks was a tough challenge.
“I’m not used to being alone,” said Ms. Austin, 61, who is divorced and lives in Shadyside.
She also worried about losing her job as a cashier at Giant Eagle Market District in Waterworks Mall.
She had been out of work for months before she landed the position in November.
Her church members and Vintage, a social services agency for seniors, delivered food to her apartment. A support group she belongs to, Circles East Liberty, met on Zoom. In May, she finished a career program at Center for Women; the center also provided her with a mentor.
Her doctor cleared her to return to work in May, and Giant Eagle covered her wages for her entire sick leave.
“I feel very fortunate,” said Ms. Austin. “We’re in a place none of us wants to be in because of this pandemic.”
‘Not holding out hope’
When Kristin Zappone, 44, was laid off in March from a small printing company on the North Side, her employer said she might be called back.
Five months later, “I’m not holding out hope,” said the Monroeville resident, who is looking for a job in graphic design.
An advantage of being laid off early in the pandemic, she said, was getting a jump on navigating the clogged system for unemployment compensation.
Though she’s been receiving benefits since April, she and her husband, who works full time in publishing, rely on two incomes. Ms. Zappone has received few responses to job applications. “I’m concerned I’m not going to get an actual graphic design position and will take anything just to pay the bills.”
Last month, she enrolled in PA Women Work’s New Choices program to brush up on career and job-hunting skills.
Another challenge is virtual learning for her 9-yearold son, Connor. The family selected an online option for the first nine weeks of the school year.
“If I get a job, we’ll have to figure out what to do at that point,” said Ms. Zappone.
For now, she’s staying positive by playing outside with her son “while he still wants to hang out with me.”
There for parents
Laurel Shaw worked for DDI, a Bridgeville training and development firm, for only six months before she was laid off in March. Before that, she had taken a year off from work to care for her disabled father.
Ms. Shaw, a part-time marketing database assistant at DDI, said she was turned down for unemployment benefits because of her short tenure with the company. She received a $1,200 federal stimulus payment and is getting by financially but hopes to get a job “sooner rather than later.”
After decades away from Pittsburgh, Ms. Shaw, 55, returned to her hometown about 10 years ago and moved into the Robinson house she grew up in to assist her parents, now both in their late 70s.
“My mother cannot do it alone,” she said. Nurses’ aides help, but Ms. Shaw worries about the spread of COVID-19.
She connected with PA Women Work on Facebook and enrolled in its free, virtual New Choices class held in July. She is following up for help with her resume and considers the organization’s resources “kind of like having a ray of hope coming through during this time.”
The Clarion University graduate is also considering returning to school for new skills, perhaps in medical billing.
“I need a solid job in an industry that is growing and busy so I can concentrate on my family … and be there when my parents need me,” she said.
Entrepreneur pivot
Calista Phair, 33, left a job as a recruiter in October to spend time with her 4month-old son after he underwent surgery. Her corporate position didn’t provide the paid time off and flexibility she needed to attend to his medical needs, she said.
In January, she started applying for jobs and felt she had strong leads before the economy came to a standstill with COVID-19.
“I got emails saying they were no longer hiring,” said Ms. Phair, of Beechview.
She connected with the Center for Women and was matched with a mentor from BNYMellon who helped her make connections. She also enrolled in a certificate program offered by the Bank of America Institute for Women’s Entrepreneurship at Cornell University.
The course included ways to help women of color navigate biases, and Ms. Phair, who is Black, felt inspired to relaunch a marketing business she owned in South Carolina before she relocated to Pittsburgh.
Her firm offers talent recruitment, coaching and business development, and she is also working on diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Ms. Phair has been promoting her venture on social media channels and has secured clients so she can cover website development and other startup costs.
Her family is getting by for now on her husband’s full-time salary from Apple. Her mother-in-law helps care for her son, who is 14 months old and healthy.
Ms. Phair said she won’t be able to pay herself until at least October but has no regrets. With the collapse of the job market during the pandemic, “I needed to make something happen,” she said.