Utah women report fewer career advancement chances amid COVID-19

According to a new report from the Utah Women and Leadership Project, the COVID-19 pandemic has created career advancement challenges for Utah’s women. The program has been studying the impact COVID-19 has had on Utah women, especially their ability to advance in their careers.

Fifty-nine percent of the women respondents said the pandemic negatively impacted their career advancement — a number that’s left researchers concerned for the “longer-term implications on women’s career advancement,” the report said.

Of the 3,542 women who completed the survey, 2,744 took the time to fill out answers to the open-ended questions. Susan Madsen, director of the project, noted it’s important to put the findings into context, considering the sampling underrepresented some key groups in the state, including women of color and lower-income women with less formal education.

These experiences aren’t exclusive to women. National research shows that women are more likely to be employed in affected industries and therefore have disproportionately experienced negative economic impacts from COVID-19, Madsen explained.

“It feels as though the pandemic has been a large ‘hold’ button on career advancement,” one survey respondent wrote. “Until it is over, it feels like survival.”

“Women really have to work hard to make sure they’re seen and their work is seen, because a lot of times we’re behind the scenes” Madsen said. “Men tout their own stuff a lot more than women; naturally, women, we get hit down if we tout our stuff because we’re breaking social norms.”