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SMNTY Classics: A Holiday Tale of Women's Labor and the Great Resignation · Stuff Mom Never Told You

0:05
Speaker 1: Hey, this is Anny and Samantha. I want come to stuff.
0:07
Speaker 2: I never told you production if I hired you, and today
0:20
Speaker 2: we're bringing back an episode we did about women's holiday
0:25
Speaker 2: labor as we move into the holidays. As this comes out,
0:30
Speaker 2: I was thinking about this actually when you were talking
0:31
Speaker 2: about your recent Monday mini about hobbies, women and hobbies,
0:38
Speaker 2: because I was trying to come up with some holiday
0:41
Speaker 2: topics that we haven't already covered.
0:43
Speaker 1: One thing that my mom and I do is we
0:46
Speaker 1: do puzzles together when I go home.
0:50
Speaker 2: And so then I went on a like rabbit hole
0:53
Speaker 2: about the history of puzzles and women, and I learned
0:56
Speaker 2: a lot and we'll have to come back and talk.
0:58
Speaker 1: About that later.
0:58
Speaker 2: But but then I got to thinking, as we do this,
1:02
Speaker 2: I'm preparing to go home for the holidays, and I
1:08
Speaker 2: was thinking about how that the fact that women have
1:13
Speaker 2: less time for hobbies like is almost it becomes apparent
1:19
Speaker 2: to me during the holidays because I'm like not preparing
1:22
Speaker 2: to relax, I'm preparing to cook, I'm preparing to like decorate,
1:27
Speaker 2: I'm preparing to like shop, like all of these things, like,
1:30
Speaker 2: and my mom is doing more than me, Like she
1:34
Speaker 2: does all of the like grocery shopic. She does the planning,
1:37
Speaker 2: she does the hosting, the decorating, cleaning, entertaining, And it
1:44
Speaker 2: is one of the things that frustrates me the most
1:46
Speaker 2: in my particular house holiday situation is that I feel
1:51
Speaker 2: like we do all of that work and then they
1:55
Speaker 2: just they being In this case, dudes generally eat the
2:01
Speaker 2: food and then leave and then go watch TV, and
2:03
Speaker 2: we're like to stuff it has gotten better.
2:06
Speaker 1: They typically clean the dishes.
2:08
Speaker 3: Now, Okay, wasn't that a helpful like move by your
2:13
Speaker 3: brother's fiance though more so than yeah.
2:17
Speaker 1: But I appreciate it.
2:18
Speaker 2: I mean, it's something, But it's just like when you
2:22
Speaker 2: were talking about the hobby, I was thinking about that.
2:24
Speaker 1: How we've also.
2:26
Speaker 2: Talked about our work and how it can be hard
2:28
Speaker 2: to have a holiday with our job. There's a lot
2:32
Speaker 2: of benefits to our job, don't get me wrong, but
2:34
Speaker 2: one of the things is it feels like we're constantly working.
2:37
Speaker 2: But then also just I was thinking about all the
2:40
Speaker 2: stuff my mom and I've got to do it it
2:43
Speaker 2: does not feel like a holiday. That does not feel
2:46
Speaker 2: like a break to me at all. Right, Yeah, So
2:52
Speaker 2: with that in mind, please enjoy this classic episode. Hey,
3:01
Speaker 2: this is Annie and Samantha. I'm welcome to Stefan never
3:04
Speaker 2: told you a production of iHeartRadio. So I'm gonna go
3:14
Speaker 2: ahead and timestamp this one because we're talking about something
3:19
Speaker 2: that is actually a lot of stuff is being written
3:21
Speaker 2: about right now, and that is the Great Resignation as
3:25
Speaker 2: it's called, among other things. So today is November twenty third,
3:33
Speaker 2: twenty twenty one. This is our last recording session for
3:36
Speaker 2: about a week. So yeah, that's exciting, and we do
3:41
Speaker 2: have a bit of a mixed Santa labor bag on
3:44
Speaker 2: this one. Now that we're in December officially, or we
3:47
Speaker 2: will be when you.
3:48
Speaker 1: Listen to this. We are not currently.
3:50
Speaker 4: Right, we are not the future at this point in time.
3:53
Speaker 2: Well not at this point. We wanted to do a
3:57
Speaker 2: very brief revisit of holiday emotional labor. We've been talking
3:59
Speaker 2: about that kind of a lot recently, but also yes,
4:03
Speaker 2: issues that are impacting women when it comes to things
4:05
Speaker 2: like the Great Resignation and all of these labor shortages
4:08
Speaker 2: are just product shortages that we've been hearing about. So
4:12
Speaker 2: before we get into it, we have gone over emotional
4:15
Speaker 2: labor before. But just as a reminder, Ourie Hostchild first
4:19
Speaker 2: defined emotional labor as quote, invoking and suppressing feelings to
4:22
Speaker 2: fit the job for which you are paid, especially in
4:24
Speaker 2: jobs often helped by women that involve personal interaction, customer service,
4:28
Speaker 2: and empathy.
4:29
Speaker 1: Things like that.
4:30
Speaker 2: Nowadays, we've expanded the meaning to include a plethora of stuff.
4:35
Speaker 1: That we, and again usually women in this.
4:38
Speaker 2: Context do outside of work to maintain relationships, like getting
4:42
Speaker 2: cards and gifts, remembering important dates for you or your partner,
4:46
Speaker 2: mood management, all kinds of things like that.
4:50
Speaker 1: And we talked about how.
4:51
Speaker 2: Emotional labor is often heightened for women and especially for
4:54
Speaker 2: mothers our caregivers during the holidays last year, and how
4:59
Speaker 2: it would be even more heightened during a pandemic. Since then,
5:03
Speaker 2: a few articles have come out about it, as well
5:06
Speaker 2: as some new challenges for this year that have shown
5:11
Speaker 2: up in this discussion.
5:13
Speaker 3: So many challenges, one interesting but not at all surprising
5:17
Speaker 3: theme for the articles that have come out from last year,
5:19
Speaker 3: where all the women who reported they just didn't have
5:22
Speaker 3: it in them to do the traditional holiday labor during
5:26
Speaker 3: the pandemic, and then the guilt that many felt alongside
5:30
Speaker 3: that realization, Yes, people and women more so felt burnt out.
5:34
Speaker 3: They were and are taking the brunt of housework and caregiving.
5:38
Speaker 3: More women experienced loss of jobs for whatever reason and
5:41
Speaker 3: cuts in pay, which made the holidays more difficult. On
5:45
Speaker 3: top of that, there was all that tragedy brought on
5:49
Speaker 3: by COVID nineteen, and in the face of all that,
5:53
Speaker 3: many women reported wanting to give and feeling pressure to
5:56
Speaker 3: give and even more positive experience, but just flat out
6:00
Speaker 3: not having the energy or resources to do so. For some,
6:05
Speaker 3: this resulted in a simpler celebration that was in many
6:08
Speaker 3: ways a relief, and for others, a conversation with a
6:11
Speaker 3: partner about taking on some of the responsibilities she'd traditionally
6:15
Speaker 3: been doing.
6:16
Speaker 4: They're saying throwing as.
6:17
Speaker 3: Traditional a holiday as they could give them some resemblance
6:21
Speaker 3: of control in a time where everything else felt out
6:24
Speaker 3: of control, and again for some just a feeling that
6:28
Speaker 3: they'd filled.
6:29
Speaker 1: Yeah.
6:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it was a real mixed fag overall.
6:33
Speaker 2: I feel like there was a lot of conversations people
6:36
Speaker 2: were having in these articles. I was reading about like
6:39
Speaker 2: what can we give up and what can we let go?
6:41
Speaker 2: And I've been doing all this work and the other
6:43
Speaker 2: person didn't like what right, Yeah, So that's interesting and
6:49
Speaker 2: it'll it'll be interesting to see after this year how
6:52
Speaker 2: it sort of goes after this is sort of our
6:54
Speaker 2: second time round. Although I do feel like this one
6:59
Speaker 2: the different challenges and there are still some of those
7:02
Speaker 2: things going on, absolutely, but it does feel quote more
7:06
Speaker 2: normal than last year, at least for me, right.
7:10
Speaker 1: So we'll see, we'll see.
7:14
Speaker 2: Hilariously to me, some articles cited Malaia Trump's words, who
7:19
Speaker 2: gives it about Christmas stuff and decorations?
7:22
Speaker 1: But I have to do it right.
7:24
Speaker 3: I feel like that might have been her attitude throughout
7:26
Speaker 3: her administration, So fair enough. One thing that's weighing on
7:33
Speaker 3: all of us, and in this conversation, women planning holidays
7:37
Speaker 3: are all the shortages that we've been hitting, from toys
7:40
Speaker 3: to food. A survey from October twenty twenty one found
7:44
Speaker 3: that thirty eight percent of women were anxious about holiday costs.
7:49
Speaker 3: At the same time, holiday prices are expected to rise
7:53
Speaker 3: by twenty percent this year.
7:55
Speaker 4: Read the room, y'all capitalism in the room.
8:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, my mom was like, I've got an emergency turkey
8:04
Speaker 2: frozen and I'm gonna try.
8:05
Speaker 1: I heard there's gonna be a turkey at this store
8:07
Speaker 1: at this time, and I was like, Wow, what is happening.
8:11
Speaker 3: Uh.
8:12
Speaker 2: I did spend a good hour today trying to get
8:15
Speaker 2: a PlayStation five. I failed, but I was close. It
8:18
Speaker 2: was in my cart.
8:20
Speaker 4: Oh no moment.
8:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm planning to go to a little market. And
8:28
Speaker 3: this is just because this artist and this crafter is fantastic,
8:31
Speaker 3: But I'm planning to go to a little market here
8:33
Speaker 3: in Atlanta to get something that is on demand. It's
8:37
Speaker 3: impossible to get and I'm planning to go thirty minutes
8:39
Speaker 3: before it even opens to get in line. I guess
8:42
Speaker 3: I'm gonna be one of those people because the last
8:44
Speaker 3: time she had an online shop similar to this, it
8:46
Speaker 3: was in my cart and as I was checking out,
8:48
Speaker 3: it was gone.
8:48
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, oh, I hate it.
8:54
Speaker 2: This isn't part of that kind of labor we're talking about, though,
8:57
Speaker 2: Like it sounds kind of silly, but I mean, if
8:58
Speaker 2: you've got kids and you got plan these things, and
9:01
Speaker 2: you've got to know that that's an issue, and then
9:03
Speaker 2: you've got to plan around it, like it's just taking
9:06
Speaker 2: up some of your mind space. And I think I
9:08
Speaker 2: said recently, I bought most of my presents in October
9:12
Speaker 2: and so did my mom because we were anticipating you
9:15
Speaker 2: know this shortage or delay and delivery and yeah, my
9:19
Speaker 2: mom brought a lot of food already and froze it.
9:22
Speaker 2: She's like, what if I can't get it later, So
9:23
Speaker 2: that's just like an extra thing to kind of plan.
9:27
Speaker 3: And yeah, with that the gift, because Etsy does this
9:30
Speaker 3: a lot where you're like looking at a gift like
9:32
Speaker 3: hurry up, there's only three left, and you're like, oh no, please.
9:36
Speaker 4: Don't go away before I make my decision.
9:39
Speaker 3: On top of the fact that, yeah, you know, you
9:42
Speaker 3: don't know where it's coming from. Sometimes I'm like, oh no,
9:44
Speaker 3: this is from Mexico. It's going to take two more weeks.
9:47
Speaker 3: So having to plan perfectly as well as trying to
9:50
Speaker 3: find the perfect thoughtful gift, y'all, it's a lot.
9:54
Speaker 1: It is, It really is.
9:57
Speaker 2: It feels great when you do it, when you pull
9:59
Speaker 2: it off, but if you can't work.
10:00
Speaker 1: To get there, yes, yes, if you can.
10:03
Speaker 2: And also like we're throwing out a lot of company
10:05
Speaker 2: names in those one but currently not sponsors or that's
10:08
Speaker 2: not why.
10:08
Speaker 1: We're mentioning them anyway.
10:12
Speaker 2: And then yes, of course there are the arguments, as
10:14
Speaker 2: always about politics, but also about masking and vaccination. I
10:17
Speaker 2: did see a recent study where seventy five percent of
10:20
Speaker 2: American households were like, you know, we're having a small
10:25
Speaker 2: gathering this year vaccination and mask.
10:27
Speaker 1: So that's interesting.
10:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, women tend to do more of the controlling of
10:31
Speaker 2: a family's narrative on social media, something that can be
10:35
Speaker 2: really fraught if your family doesn't agree on things like that,
10:38
Speaker 2: which I thought I hadn't really considered that, but yeah, yeah, it's.
10:44
Speaker 4: A it's a stressor.
10:46
Speaker 3: I'm trying to figure out how not to be the
10:48
Speaker 3: person to start an argument.
11:04
Speaker 2: Something else we wanted to talk about is all these
11:08
Speaker 2: labor shortages we're hearing about and also the Great resignation.
11:12
Speaker 2: In September twenty twenty one, a record four point four
11:15
Speaker 2: million people quit their jobs. According to the US Labor Department,
11:18
Speaker 2: that's on the tail of four point three million. Resignations
11:21
Speaker 2: are about three percent in August of twenty twenty one,
11:25
Speaker 2: which is way larger than the number of layoffs at
11:27
Speaker 2: one point three million. Data from small to medium sized
11:31
Speaker 2: payroll provider Gusto suggests that of those quitting, more of
11:34
Speaker 2: them are women. The company started tracking the gender gap
11:37
Speaker 2: in resignations in January twenty twenty, and according to the
11:40
Speaker 2: information they've collected. The gap was at its highest in
11:42
Speaker 2: August twenty twenty one, with a one point one percent
11:46
Speaker 2: point difference between the number of women quitting versus the
11:49
Speaker 2: number of men quitting.
11:50
Speaker 1: Since then, that.
11:51
Speaker 2: Percentage just dropped a bit, but is still hovering around
11:53
Speaker 2: one percent. Three hundred thousand women quit their jobs in
11:57
Speaker 2: September compared to the one hundred ninety four thousand jobs
12:01
Speaker 2: added to the workplace. So I mean, we don't really know,
12:05
Speaker 2: We don't know the breakdown of the second number, but
12:07
Speaker 2: more women quit than were hired, right, weall.
12:11
Speaker 3: Right, which we talked about when we said that we
12:13
Speaker 3: were losing the gender gap.
12:14
Speaker 4: At one point we were like.
12:15
Speaker 3: Oh yay, it's happening, it's moving forward, and then pandemic
12:18
Speaker 3: just swept all of that away, as well as the
12:20
Speaker 3: fact that a lot of these jobs that have higher
12:22
Speaker 3: resignations are probably the essential quote unquote essential jobs which
12:27
Speaker 3: have more women as a part of that, so that
12:29
Speaker 3: could explain a lot. And so data from LinkedIn found
12:33
Speaker 3: that the number of women reporting job transitions, which can
12:36
Speaker 3: mean anything from leaving the workforce or switching jobs, has
12:40
Speaker 3: jumped fifty four percent for women in twenty twenty one,
12:43
Speaker 3: compared to forty six percent for men. One third of
12:46
Speaker 3: women surveyed said their income wasn't enough to pay for
12:49
Speaker 3: their families, and the number one reason the women gave
12:52
Speaker 3: for changing jobs, which, yes, that makes a lot of sense.
12:56
Speaker 4: This isn't just limited to the US.
12:58
Speaker 3: At the same time, a recent survey of fourteen thousand
13:01
Speaker 3: corporate leaders, middle managers, and individual contributors from twenty seven
13:05
Speaker 3: countries found that in twenty twenty two, sixty three percent
13:09
Speaker 3: of women were planning on staying with their current employer,
13:12
Speaker 3: down from seventy one percent in twenty twenty one. That's
13:17
Speaker 3: compared to sixty seven percent of men planning on remaining
13:21
Speaker 3: with their current employer in twenty twenty two, down from
13:24
Speaker 3: seventy percent in twenty twenty one, So that's a more
13:28
Speaker 3: precipitous drop among women. When it comes to leaders. Of leaders,
13:32
Speaker 3: the number of women intending to stay in twenty twenty
13:34
Speaker 3: two dropped from eighty seven percent to sixty six percent.
13:39
Speaker 3: Before the pandemic, women had a majority of the country's jobs.
13:42
Speaker 3: So this is a big deal for multiple reasons.
13:45
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, yes, yes, And of course this is impacting
13:49
Speaker 2: companies diversity quotas. The report included this quote. With companies
13:54
Speaker 2: competing for the same highly skilled talent, action on DEEIB,
13:59
Speaker 2: which stands for republic de diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging
14:02
Speaker 2: in fostering a culture of belonging will be a key differentiator,
14:05
Speaker 2: but our research shows there's still a ways to go.
14:08
Speaker 2: Four and five eighty percent senior leaders say their actions
14:11
Speaker 2: show they are genuinely committed to a greater DEIB, while
14:14
Speaker 2: only three and five or fifty eight percent individual contributor
14:17
Speaker 2: to say the same. Closing this gap will play a
14:20
Speaker 2: leading role in retaining people too, making it one of
14:23
Speaker 2: the key areas of focus to get right during the
14:25
Speaker 2: Great Resignation. A separate recent study found that a large
14:28
Speaker 2: amount of people will leave if they are made quote
14:30
Speaker 2: uncomfortable on a job because of their gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic background.
14:35
Speaker 1: Or neurodevelopment condition.
14:37
Speaker 2: And then over in Canada, a study found that one
14:40
Speaker 2: hundred thousand working age women left the workforce since the
14:43
Speaker 2: beginning of the pandemic as of spring twenty twenty one,
14:46
Speaker 2: more than ten times than the number of men. Some
14:49
Speaker 2: analysts suggest that if it were reversed and men were
14:53
Speaker 2: the ones leading in such high numbers, there would be
14:55
Speaker 2: more concern, which is also a problem.
14:58
Speaker 3: So there are a lot of reasons for this, and
15:00
Speaker 3: many of them we've discussed before. The most commonly cited
15:03
Speaker 3: is a desire for a better, higher paying career, women
15:07
Speaker 3: start their own businesses, burnout, and child or elder care concerns,
15:11
Speaker 3: and the words of an economist at Gusto Luke Pardu,
15:14
Speaker 3: he said, this pandemic has been particularly difficult for women
15:18
Speaker 3: at jobs who also need care for families.
15:21
Speaker 4: They've been the ones who.
15:22
Speaker 3: Needed to take that step back in their professional lives
15:25
Speaker 3: in order to meet their family's responsibilities.
15:28
Speaker 4: And yeah, we talked about that previously.
15:30
Speaker 3: Twenty twenty Women in the Workplace survey found that women
15:33
Speaker 3: on average were spending twenty hours a week on housework
15:36
Speaker 3: and caregiving.
15:38
Speaker 4: Yep, again talked about that hasn't.
15:39
Speaker 3: Really changed since, according to some sources, two out of
15:43
Speaker 3: three caregivers are women, and that same survey found that
15:47
Speaker 3: one in three women have considered leaving or down shifting
15:50
Speaker 3: their career in twenty twenty one, compared to one in
15:54
Speaker 3: four at the start of the pandemic.
15:56
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's what we were talking about with the gap
15:58
Speaker 4: at one point was like, oh, yeah, it's again. Oh no,
16:01
Speaker 4: it's gutten wider yep.
16:03
Speaker 1: Yeah. There are a few episodes I looked back that
16:04
Speaker 1: we did before the.
16:05
Speaker 2: Pandemic and I'm like, oh, we had no idea, We
16:08
Speaker 2: had no idea, but we did one that was like
16:11
Speaker 2: very hopeful of like women are made all these strides
16:15
Speaker 2: or doing all this.
16:16
Speaker 3: It's like oh, and then when we had to review
16:18
Speaker 3: after all the reports are like, yeah, mostly women are leaving,
16:21
Speaker 3: Like yeah, goodype.
16:25
Speaker 2: So yes, as you were kind of saying, Samantha. All
16:28
Speaker 2: of this has been compounded by the fact that many
16:30
Speaker 2: essential workers, many of them women in fields like nursing, teaching,
16:34
Speaker 2: and childcare, are also leaving the workforce. Indeed, dot com
16:39
Speaker 2: found that more and more companies are posting quote urgent
16:42
Speaker 2: hirings that start immediately, and most of those industries three
16:46
Speaker 2: of the top four in fact, are dominated by women.
16:49
Speaker 2: Personal care and home health, nursing, and childcare.
16:53
Speaker 1: A lot of these jobs require.
16:54
Speaker 2: In person interactions, meaning that health concerns are primary concern
16:58
Speaker 2: for employees as well. So this is you can find
17:01
Speaker 2: articles specific to each of those professions that we just
17:04
Speaker 2: mentioned of, like why it's a big deal, why it's happening,
17:07
Speaker 2: and a lot of it is related to what we're
17:08
Speaker 2: talking about, but it does have that ripple effect then
17:10
Speaker 2: of you know, I get there's no teachers or there's
17:14
Speaker 2: that childcare aspect is so.
17:17
Speaker 1: Big in this conversation.
17:20
Speaker 2: When it comes to burnout, an increasing number of women,
17:23
Speaker 2: and especially women of color and LGBTQ plus folks, are
17:26
Speaker 2: taking medical leaves to cope with stress, exhaustion, and burnout.
17:30
Speaker 1: For many women, working at.
17:31
Speaker 2: Home has blurred the lines between work hours and off
17:34
Speaker 2: work hours, meaning that a lot of us are working
17:36
Speaker 2: ten to twelve hour days for the same amount of
17:39
Speaker 2: pay or even less pay. Eighty percent of women surveyed
17:43
Speaker 2: over ten countries reported that the pandemic had increased their workload,
17:47
Speaker 2: and sixty six percent reported that their home responsibilities had
17:51
Speaker 2: also increased.
17:53
Speaker 1: So that's that's just a lot. It's just a lot.
17:56
Speaker 2: Don Lee over at the Los Angeles Times wrote about
17:59
Speaker 2: all of this, especially for working moms, quote, the pandemic
18:02
Speaker 2: has exacted a heavy toll on millions of moms in
18:05
Speaker 2: terms of job security, pay equity, and long term career
18:08
Speaker 2: opportunities loss as many will likely never recover in significant numbers.
18:13
Speaker 2: They endured pay cuts, reduced hours, diminished retirement benefits, and
18:17
Speaker 2: lost promotions. As we discussed in previous episodes, some experts
18:21
Speaker 2: predict the pandemic will set advancements made in gender equality
18:25
Speaker 2: back fifty years, and those are like, really guesses right.
18:31
Speaker 4: And yeah, that didn't have all the numbers that we have.
18:33
Speaker 4: It is not pretty. It's like as bad as they expected,
18:36
Speaker 4: or a little bit worse.
18:38
Speaker 3: And on top of that, yeah, I find it interesting
18:40
Speaker 3: when we talk about these gender gaps that most of
18:43
Speaker 3: the companies are ragging about how well they've done. And
18:47
Speaker 3: when I say company, I mean these like big corporate ones,
18:50
Speaker 3: obviously not the small businesses which have been.
18:51
Speaker 4: Had pretty hard.
18:53
Speaker 3: But again, typically these small businesses also like impact women
18:57
Speaker 3: just as a reminder pretty greatly.
19:00
Speaker 4: And I find that.
19:00
Speaker 3: Interesting as well, when we're sitting here going, oh, no,
19:04
Speaker 3: it's gotten bad. But at the same time, we're getting
19:06
Speaker 3: reports from corporations and big stockholders were.
19:09
Speaker 4: Like, but we've made a lot of money, right.
19:13
Speaker 1: Again read the room. I feel like we've been saying
19:15
Speaker 1: that a lot.
19:16
Speaker 3: I mean, it just feels like, I don't know why,
19:18
Speaker 3: you feel like it's time to brag right now? This
19:20
Speaker 3: is the worst time, be quiet, sit Yeah, have all
19:24
Speaker 3: the seats. On the other hand, another study found that
19:28
Speaker 3: about ten percent of Americans quit their job to pursue
19:31
Speaker 3: something they were more passionate about. Good on you, ten
19:34
Speaker 3: percent of the people's. On top of that, the study
19:37
Speaker 3: found that fifty percent of women were more open to
19:39
Speaker 3: doing that compared to forty four percent of men.
19:42
Speaker 5: Good on you, ladies, yeah yeah, And so there have
19:47
Speaker 5: been numerous articles aimed at employers about how to keep
19:49
Speaker 5: workers and women at their jobs, suggesting things like flexible
19:52
Speaker 5: hours and flexible work options, student loan assistance, higher pay,
19:57
Speaker 5: and four day work weeks.
19:59
Speaker 2: How have experts warned that, if not carried out carefully,
20:03
Speaker 2: some of these options could backfire and further exacerbate problems
20:07
Speaker 2: that the pandemic made worse. For instance, if most women
20:11
Speaker 2: at a company choose to work remotely due to childcare,
20:15
Speaker 2: the office might be full of men. And multiple studies
20:18
Speaker 2: have shown that in person interactions are beneficial when it
20:21
Speaker 2: comes to things like promotions. So that's like I know
20:26
Speaker 2: we've discussed before, it is really beneficial to have this
20:30
Speaker 2: like flexible work schedule and remote work options, and that
20:34
Speaker 2: is really beneficial for women.
20:35
Speaker 1: But it's one of those things, like we also have
20:37
Speaker 1: to keep in mind.
20:37
Speaker 2: These other things, and so we talked about this, but
20:40
Speaker 2: also like the ploring of work lines and finding like
20:43
Speaker 2: work life balance. It's just nothing in here is so
20:47
Speaker 2: simple as this, Like we should definitely talk about this,
20:50
Speaker 2: it should be an option.
20:51
Speaker 3: But also right, and let's also think about the fact
20:55
Speaker 3: that if a woman is staying at home to be
20:58
Speaker 3: with their child, their double working, like they are doing
21:01
Speaker 3: two jobs at once. So that's not necessarily a benefit
21:04
Speaker 3: other than saving money, which should not have to be
21:08
Speaker 3: for a woman who wants to continue in hard profession
21:10
Speaker 3: or has to continue in hard profession.
21:12
Speaker 2: Right right, right, right, And all of this has also
21:15
Speaker 2: led to a lot of conversation around updating how employers
21:18
Speaker 2: find employees. Maybe the resume is no longer the way
21:21
Speaker 2: to go or not as important, or maybe a college
21:24
Speaker 2: degree is and always so important, and right now analysts
21:27
Speaker 2: think women have more negotiating power. Of course, yeah, that
21:31
Speaker 2: won't matter if we don't get to the root of
21:33
Speaker 2: systemic issues, like if there aren't affordable care options or
21:36
Speaker 2: elder care options for those that need them. Even the
21:40
Speaker 2: term the great resignation is disputed for what's happening because
21:45
Speaker 2: it implies a level of choice not present for all workers.
21:49
Speaker 2: Some have called it the Great Reassessment. Others say it's
21:52
Speaker 2: just women being four set of jobs to take care
21:54
Speaker 2: of children, and that's what it is.
21:56
Speaker 3: Right.
21:57
Speaker 2: Many have caution that while coverage of this be quite inspiring,
22:01
Speaker 2: it often focuses on those that have.
22:03
Speaker 1: The resources, time, and health to undertake something new.
22:08
Speaker 4: Right.
22:08
Speaker 3: One of the surveys mentioned added that a part of
22:11
Speaker 3: the solution has to be quote, doing the work at
22:14
Speaker 3: the root of the problem, as you were saying, the
22:15
Speaker 3: systemic part a toxic culture that rewards workplace martyrdom over
22:20
Speaker 3: self care and self awareness. And yeah, it's obviously and
22:24
Speaker 3: we see this in a lot of like you need.
22:25
Speaker 4: To sacrifice your life to be here. That can't happen.
22:29
Speaker 3: And so many women interviewed reported being frustrated at the
22:32
Speaker 3: lack of advancement, opportunities, support, financial compensation, and just general
22:37
Speaker 3: respect and basic necessities, which you're like, why is that
22:41
Speaker 3: not a part of this?
22:42
Speaker 4: Why is this something that we have to compromise for?
22:45
Speaker 2: I know, I know, And yeah, the recent passing of
22:48
Speaker 2: the infrastructure bill here in the US and what got
22:51
Speaker 2: cut also plays into this conversation. We're planning on returning
22:53
Speaker 2: to that to discuss it in a future episode. I
22:57
Speaker 2: will say, just because it kind of stuck out to me,
23:01
Speaker 2: some women interviewed in all of these articles about this
23:05
Speaker 2: chose not to get vaccinated and reported difficulties finding jobs,
23:09
Speaker 2: while others quit because their companies didn't have a vaccine mandate.
23:11
Speaker 2: So that's also something that's happening.
23:14
Speaker 4: Right.
23:14
Speaker 1: As we said at the top, this is like people.
23:17
Speaker 2: Are really writing a lot of articles about this all
23:19
Speaker 2: the time, and since I've researched it, I get like
23:21
Speaker 2: an update every day, so it's ongoing. It's you know,
23:24
Speaker 2: relatively new, so data collection is still happening. But that's
23:28
Speaker 2: what we know for now. Maybe we'll revisit.
23:32
Speaker 3: So for the very little I knew of it beforehand,
23:35
Speaker 3: I felt like the great resignation was the stories about
23:38
Speaker 3: all of the like the fast food workers who would
23:40
Speaker 3: just up and quit, and you would see the massive
23:42
Speaker 3: science that says not able to be open.
23:45
Speaker 4: Including one of the zaxbies here in Atlanta.
23:47
Speaker 3: I went and they didn't have enough employee, so I
23:49
Speaker 3: had this shut down for a few weeks.
23:51
Speaker 2: Yeah.
23:51
Speaker 4: I found it interesting.
23:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean there are a lot of a lot
23:57
Speaker 2: of very interesting conversations happening around this, I think because
24:00
Speaker 2: that aspect I've also seen and has been pretty widely covered,
24:05
Speaker 2: and I think that is you know, another like when
24:09
Speaker 2: we talk about the minimum wage and stuff, what we're
24:12
Speaker 2: asking people to do for so little and people just
24:16
Speaker 2: being fed up with it, paying people.
24:19
Speaker 1: A living wage. But yeah, there's a.
24:23
Speaker 2: Lot more going on than we can really simplify. But
24:29
Speaker 2: I do think after reading all of this, I do
24:32
Speaker 2: think a lot of it when it comes to why
24:33
Speaker 2: more women are quitting, is definitely childcare based or just
24:37
Speaker 2: like other responsibilities based, Yeah, which is, yeah, something we
24:42
Speaker 2: need to be talking about.
24:56
Speaker 1: All right.
24:56
Speaker 2: To wrap this one up, this episode actually started with
25:00
Speaker 2: this news story that I heard, and then it expanded
25:04
Speaker 2: into a great resignation. But I actually wanted to talk
25:08
Speaker 2: about Missus Glaus. Yes, so this is our holiday themed
25:13
Speaker 2: section of labor shortages, and you can see the past
25:18
Speaker 2: hosts have done episodes on Missus Clause. But yeah, very briefly,
25:22
Speaker 2: if you're wondering, she does not have a definitive first name.
25:25
Speaker 2: Some more recent pieces of entertainment give her one, but
25:28
Speaker 2: it's not the same name. So I think she's called
25:31
Speaker 2: Anna and something and like something else with an A
25:34
Speaker 2: and another thing, but they're not the same name.
25:37
Speaker 1: So that's kind of where we are with Missus Claus.
25:40
Speaker 2: And as more and more malls and venues are looking
25:44
Speaker 2: to hire someone to play Santa Claus after missing out
25:46
Speaker 2: the last year, they are running into a shortage of
25:49
Speaker 2: folks available to play. So this is for a few reasons, older,
25:54
Speaker 2: heavier setmen that are typically sought after to play Santa Claus,
25:58
Speaker 2: or at a higher risk for more severe case of
26:00
Speaker 2: COVID nineteen. Since the job requires interacting with hundreds of
26:04
Speaker 2: people in public, many are opting out this year. Several
26:08
Speaker 2: died from COVID since the pandemic started, and they actually
26:11
Speaker 2: keep some of the Santa Schools keep statistics on this
26:14
Speaker 2: since it's pretty it's pretty gram.
26:16
Speaker 4: Wait wait, they're Santa Schools.
26:17
Speaker 1: Yeah. Oh yes, Samantha, and we're going to talk about
26:20
Speaker 1: some of them.
26:20
Speaker 4: Oh, thank you, going okay.
26:22
Speaker 2: Other Santa potential Santa players are deciding they'd rather spend
26:27
Speaker 2: more time with their family during the holidays. Many are
26:31
Speaker 2: sticking to digital visits as they did in twenty twenty,
26:33
Speaker 2: and actually found quite a bit of success in that
26:37
Speaker 2: all this is coupled with a significant increase in demand.
26:41
Speaker 2: According to the founder of a Denver Santa school, Susan Mesco,
26:45
Speaker 2: on an average year, she receives around fifteen to twenty
26:47
Speaker 2: requests for Santa in July, but by February of this year,
26:50
Speaker 2: she'd already gotten seventy requests.
26:54
Speaker 1: A school in Texas.
26:55
Speaker 2: Reported around a twenty percent shortage of available Santas in
26:59
Speaker 2: a one hund undred and twenty one percent increase in demand.
27:03
Speaker 2: This does mean that Santa's are making more money. And
27:08
Speaker 2: you know, there's still a lot of concerns about COVID
27:10
Speaker 2: and all this, so there's a lot of like safety things,
27:12
Speaker 2: but in place it's still you know, a mall and
27:15
Speaker 2: kids and all that stuff. Somebody doing like plexiglass or
27:18
Speaker 2: you know, six foot distance. But they people who are
27:22
Speaker 2: doing it are making.
27:23
Speaker 1: A lot of money, a lot more than they normally make.
27:25
Speaker 4: Nice.
27:26
Speaker 3: So it also means that some bookers are turning instead
27:30
Speaker 3: to a Missus clause. And I'm not gonna lie. So
27:33
Speaker 3: there is an episode in thirty Rock where Jack Donaghy
27:38
Speaker 3: talks about Missus Claus in one of their holiday specials,
27:41
Speaker 3: and he's like where's missus Claus. And they're like, we
27:43
Speaker 3: didn't need one, and he's like, there's always a missus Clause.
27:46
Speaker 3: And it turns out that his mom, who his father
27:49
Speaker 3: was not in the picture, would have Missus Claus doing everything.
27:52
Speaker 4: Because they had no seta. I just oh, and so
27:56
Speaker 4: he thought that was a tradition, right, right, right right.
27:59
Speaker 3: So more and more women are receiving solo bookings on
28:02
Speaker 3: top of this, in part because of anticipated toy shortages,
28:06
Speaker 3: The Jammy Claus Company is set to publish Jammi Claus
28:10
Speaker 3: The Christmas Tradition of unconditionally giving all about how Missus
28:15
Speaker 3: Claus delivers pajamas on Christmas Eve.
28:19
Speaker 4: I like this.
28:19
Speaker 3: The kids are supposed to put out the bag on
28:22
Speaker 3: Christmas Eve and then she'll fill it with pajamas, whether
28:25
Speaker 3: the children have been naughty or nice. You know. The
28:28
Speaker 3: company is partnering with Domestic Violence and Homeless Shelters in
28:31
Speaker 3: conjunction with their annual Pajama drive.
28:34
Speaker 4: Very smart, I want some pajamas.
28:36
Speaker 1: Pajamas are great. Pajamas are great.
28:40
Speaker 2: And then in November, Old Navy hosted a Santa boot camp,
28:44
Speaker 2: claiming they wanted Santa to be quote more representative of
28:46
Speaker 2: modern culture, representing all backgrounds, ethnicities, and heritage. And I
28:51
Speaker 2: also saw just today that they have training on how
28:55
Speaker 2: to handle ridiculous gift request.
29:02
Speaker 4: Yeah.
29:03
Speaker 3: I mean, like I always think about that when you
29:05
Speaker 3: have a child going to Santa telling secrets and the
29:08
Speaker 3: thing they want is like a horse, and you're absolutely
29:12
Speaker 3: not getting this child a pony or a horse? So
29:15
Speaker 3: how do you deal with this? And for me, who
29:18
Speaker 3: have never actually believed in Santa Claus, it was not
29:21
Speaker 3: a big deal. Knowing that we had cash limits. We're
29:25
Speaker 3: told we had cash limits. Didn't really you know, care
29:29
Speaker 3: much other than comparing with all the rich kids who
29:31
Speaker 3: were like I got.
29:31
Speaker 4: A new phone with my own private number. I'm like,
29:35
Speaker 4: I got.
29:37
Speaker 1: A hug.
29:39
Speaker 3: But I'm just wondering that's not true adequate Christmas. I
29:42
Speaker 3: was just just wondering in that, like what do you do?
29:45
Speaker 3: What do these parents do? Another reason that I'm glad
29:48
Speaker 3: I don't have children in that so this would make
29:51
Speaker 3: me panic, Yeah, trying to figure out what to do
29:54
Speaker 3: for these kids who are like, hey, well this and this,
29:56
Speaker 3: and especially you know, you see the really sad tales
29:59
Speaker 3: of like kids wanting people to be healed or wanting
30:03
Speaker 3: to help people and there's nothing you could do about this?
30:05
Speaker 4: What do you do?
30:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would not.
30:08
Speaker 2: That is not a job I would want. Nope, Nope, nope.
30:14
Speaker 2: Another job I wouldn't want being Santa Disney World. But
30:17
Speaker 2: they also have now s they have their first black
30:21
Speaker 2: men playing Santa.
30:23
Speaker 1: I think I like it. Yeah, but yeah, there's no
30:27
Speaker 1: way that sounds like a job.
30:30
Speaker 4: It sounds like just a nightmare in general.
30:32
Speaker 3: To have to have kids, one right after another. Tell
30:37
Speaker 3: you like you hope it's great experiences, and I'm sure
30:40
Speaker 3: the sweet ones are so fantastic, but then the ones
30:43
Speaker 3: you're like, yeah, I really want to just push you down.
30:46
Speaker 2: Right into the crass, like right, get away from me, kid, Yes, And.
30:56
Speaker 1: I guess related.
30:56
Speaker 2: Santa Con is back this year, So okay, what is this?
31:00
Speaker 4: Is that just because I've seen pictures? Is it a race?
31:03
Speaker 4: Is it just a convention? Is it? Someone tell me.
31:07
Speaker 2: There might be a race involved, But it's a convention.
31:10
Speaker 2: And it's sort of notorious for drunk people who address
31:15
Speaker 2: to saying getting really drunk in like puking in the
31:17
Speaker 2: streets and getting in fights on the streets in New York.
31:19
Speaker 4: Oh fighting, Oh yeah, yes, don't.
31:25
Speaker 3: There's so many things that worry me about this. Hey,
31:29
Speaker 3: if y'all have gone, any of y'all have gone, and
31:32
Speaker 3: you can tell us the tales of Santa con Please,
31:35
Speaker 3: I'm very thoroughly confused.
31:37
Speaker 2: Oh yes, any yeah, any convention can get a little
31:44
Speaker 2: yes and please, if you've got any stories you want
31:48
Speaker 2: to share, whether it's holiday related or resignation related, we
31:52
Speaker 2: would love to hear from you. You can email us
31:55
Speaker 2: at Stuff Media, mom Stuff at i heeartneed dot com.
31:58
Speaker 2: You can find us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast
32:00
Speaker 2: or on Instagram at Stuff I've Never Told You. Thanks
32:02
Speaker 2: as always sure our suproducer Christina, thank you and thanks
32:05
Speaker 2: to you for listening. Stuff I've Never Told You is
32:07
Speaker 2: a production by iHeart Radio. For more podcasts on my
32:09
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32:11
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