[Kobi]

I couldn't get the initial link video to open. This is the
written version of the same data from ABC news and
addresses some of the questions that were posed in
this thread:

March 21, 2011 Bradley Blackburn ABC News:

Women are lagging behind men in the nation's slow
economic recovery, new government statistics show.

Of the 1.3 million jobs created in the last 12 months,
some 90 percent have gone to men, according to a
report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Women
have gained just 149,000 jobs.

There's no question that the recession hit men
particularly hard, with jobs slashed from traditionally
male-dominated sectors like manufacturing and
construction. Men have still lost more net jobs than
women have since the start of the recession in
December 2007, with men losing a net 4.9 million
jobs, while women have lost 2.5 million jobs.

While you might expect men to recover more jobs
since far more men were put out of work, there are
some signs that things have gotten worse for women
rather than better. Looking at the data since the end
of the recession in July 2009, men have gained
600,000 jobs while women have lost 300,000 jobs.

"I think that the recession has happened in stages,"
said Myra Strober, a professor of education and
economics at Stanford University. "The first stage hit
manufacturing hard, and that's where men have more
jobs than women do, and now the recession has
moved to state and local government where women
have a higher percentage of jobs."

Stimulus Spending Favors Male Workers

While government spending has gone toward
investments in infrastructure like roads, there have
been cuts in public education and other public-
sector service jobs. Women make up some 57 percent
of the public workforce, but between July 2009 and
Feb. 2011, they lost a far higher proportion of the
jobs. Nearly 80 percent of the public-sector jobs cut
during that period were held by women, according to
the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

As unemployed women look for work, experts also
point to cultural biases that may hinder their search.
While anti-discrimination laws prohibit the practice, s
ome employers may believe that male workers will
clock longer hours or be more dedicated to their
jobs.

"Women undertake more of the family work than men
do," said Frances Rosenbluth, a professor of
international politics and deputy provost for the
social sciences at Yale University. "Despite laws,
people won't hire women for jobs that require long
hours or travel."

American Families Depend on Female Earnings

An out-of-work man may also benefit from an
employer's sympathetic assumption that he's his
family's breadwinner, even though American families
have come to depend on income from women far
more than in decades past. Strober said that wives
now contribute roughly 30 percent of a married
couple's earnings, and nearly a quarter of children
under 18 live in single-mother households.

"There's a lot of evidence that historically when jobs
are scarce, employers favor men because they feel
that it's up to men to earn a family wage and support
their families," said Strober. "That is still true, but it's
also true that women need to support their families."

At the high end of the employment pool, women may
have been affected more by the recession than many
realized. Female leaders at the most senior levels of
companies were three times more likely to lose jobs
than men during the recession, according to Catalyst,
a nonprofit organization focusing on women and
business.

Catalyst found that part of the reason for that
disparity is that women's mentors were less senior
than those of men, and when it comes time to lay off
employees, that can be a disadvantage.

"A lot of those discussions happen behind closed
doors. Your mentor is a person who, behind that
door, is saying, 'No, we can't lose her,'" said Jan
Combopiano, vice president and chief knowledge
officer for Catalyst. "What you need is an advocate, a
champion in your corner."

--------

Very sobering information and a tad worrisome in terms of
the sexism and racism that was addressed.

On a brighter note, Newsweek did an article in the summer of 2010
that paints a more optimistic outlook for women around the world in
the future called "Women will rule the world". Catchy title. Check it out here:

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/06/w...the-world.html