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Please join WSU Advancement for Cougarosities, a series of conversations with WSU faculty around how they are answering some of the world’s most pressing questions.
As a Tier One research institution, WSU is committed to untangling complex research problems to enrich the quality of life for everyone. Each week, we’ll chat with a different expert, or panel of experts, on a variety of timely topics.
The COVID-19 pandemic led to the release of a new phrase—“essential worker.” Ranging from grocery store clerks to health care professionals, this workforce continued to report to work in the midst of a global outbreak. Not only do women make up the majority of essential workers, they also take on the majority of caregiving roles—childcare, teaching from home, elder care, and much more. Join two WSU faculty as they discuss what COVID-19 is teaching us about women, work, and the future.
Julie Kmec, Professor, Department of Sociology, College of Arts and Sciences
Anna Zamora-Kapoor, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, College of Arts and Sciences
Resources:
- Budig, M. “The Fatherhood Bonus and the Motherhood Penalty: Parenthood and the Gender Gap in Pay” Third Way Report (2014)
- Collins, C. Making Motherhood Work: How Women Manage Careers and Caregiving. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2019.
- Robertson C and Gebeloff R. “How Millions of Women Became the Most Essential Workers in America” New York Times (April 18, 2020)
- Donner, F. “How Women are Getting Squeezed by the Pandemic” New York Times (May 20, 2020)
- Kurtz, A. “Millions of Dads are Stuck at Home — Which Could be a Game Changer for Working Moms” CNN (April 24, 2020)
- Covert, B. “Write A Book? Sure, Work from Home. Care for A Child? Nope” New York Times (June 25, 2020)
- Cohen P. and Hsu T. “Pandemic Could Scar a Generation of Working Women” New York Times (June 3, 2020)
- Hunt, K. “How Female Scientists are Losing Out During the Pandemic and Why it Matters” CNN (June 18, 2020)
- Kelly EL, Bacic J, DePasquale N, Hurtado D, Kossek E, Sembajwe G. 2016. Supporting employees’ work-family needs improves health care quality: Longitudinal evidence from long-term care. Social Science & Medicine 157: 111-119. DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.03.031
- Correll SJ, Kelly EL, O’Connor LT, Williams JC. 2014. Redefining Work Work and Occupations. 41: 3-17. DOI: 10.1177/0730888413515250
- Hannah Branch. Opportunity Denied: Limiting Black Women to Devalued Work
- Collins, Patricia Hill. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Conscousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. 2020. Routledge Press.
- England, Paula. 1992. Comparable Worth: Theories and Evidence. Routledge Press.
- equitablegrowth.org/fact-sheet-occupational-segregation-in-the-united-states
- americanprogress.org/issues/women/reports/2020/03/24/482141/quick-facts-gender-wage-gap
- Morgan, K. Working Mothers and the Welfare State: Religion and the Politics of Work Family Policies in Western Europe and the United States. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2006.
- When Schools Closed, Americans Turned to Their Usual Backup Plan: Mothers – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
With COVID-19 shutting down schools, businesses, and non-essential operations globally, many parents have found themselves in a new role—teacher. Join Dr. Tariq Akmal, Chair of the Department of Teaching and Learning, and Dr. Sharon Kruse, Chair of the Department of Educational Leadership and Sport Management as they discuss homeschooling during a global pandemic. What’s worked? What hasn’t? And most of all, what does this mean for the future?
COVID-19 and the Developing World
The impact and fallout of the Coronavirus pandemic on the developed world is being extensively documented. What has not been widely reported is the impact COVID-19 is having on the developing world. Join Tom Kawula, Director of WSU’s Paul G. Allen School for Global Animal Health, and Sylvia Omulo, Assistant Professor in the Paul G. Allen School for Global Animal Health as they discuss the fallout of a global pandemic in these countries.
Senior Living: Serving the Forgotten Middle
In the United States, senior living housing solutions generally fall into two categories—private-pay communities or Medicare/Medicaid-subsidized housing. Private-pay communities serve the population’s wealthiest demographic. Government-subsidized communities serve the population whose income/asset level so dictates. For the majority of the population who falls in between these categories, options are scarce, and care often falls to families and next-of-kin, who must find a balance between work, life, and being a caregiver. These challenges for the unserved middle-income earners have been magnified by the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn from the founding director of the new Granger Cobb Institute for Senior Living, Dr. Nancy Swanger, how WSU is tackling this crisis head on by partnering with experts across the WSU system and the Senior Living industry
Questions may be submitted in advance to foundation.comm@wsu.edu.
