The economic downturn affected men and women, and both sexes saw pink slips and income losses. Since then the rebound that men have experienced is much better than that experienced by women, with women recovering only 9% in October while men are recovering at several times this percentage. This problem has continued since then.

At the beginning of December there was an article in the Huffington Post about the inequality between sexes in unemployment recovery after the economic downturn. According to this article “On Friday the Labor Department announced that the unemployment rate among women fell to 7.8 percent in November from 8 percent the month before. The slight improvement belies the fact that the unemployment rate for women has been fairly stagnant since the recovery began in June 2009. Men have done better: Unemployment for men was 8.3 percent in November, down from 9.9 percent at the start of the recovery. The reasons that men have regained jobs at a faster clip than women and have seen their collective situation improve since the recovery began are hard to explain, said Entmacher. ‘It isn’t as if male-dominated industries have suddenly and really rebounded,’ she said. The anecdotal stories that Entmacher hears from middle-aged and older women, left struggling with their finances and their identities, suggest that there’s also a belief lingering in the culture that it’s more important to put unemployed men back to work, she said.”

This story points out that the biggest victims of the economic downturn are women who are middle aged or older. These are women who are willing to work, very flexible, and who have built up networks, and they have become long term unemployed. This period in their life should be spent getting ready to retire and adding to their savings, and instead these women are forced to rely on these retirement funds just to scrape by while looking for work.

One of the women in this group was profiled in the Huffington Post piece. Gayle Keslie is a 51 year old woman who is one of the long term unemployed with a college education. According to Huffington Post “Leslie found a spot at the local women’s emergency shelter then got a job with the Walker County Democratic Party. When the election was over, Leslie was able to get back to New York. She lived on her unemployment benefits, thinking it would be a matter of time before she found a job. Then in 2010, the benefits ran out. Now, she’s depending on the kindness of friends. She splits her time between sending out resumes, hunting for her next temporary sleeping spot and writing a book about her life. To get by, Leslie rations everything — subway passes, cellphone minutes and even that red lipstick — so that she will have them if, and when, she gets a job interview.”

Many women are in the same boat as Gayle Leslie, and while the official line is that an economic recovery has occurred these women are still living in a recession, with levels of unemployment that are stagnant and women in the group facing mounting debts and financial insecurity. The expert advice for these women varies, with some experts advising that self employment is the answer and other experts advising long term solutions like bankruptcy and other debt relief options. Bankruptcy is a solution that works equally well for both sexes.

If you are one of the long term unemployed women, or you are underemployed and facing economic hardship because of this, there is help and solutions available. A qualified bankruptcy attorney can help you turn your finances around, and get a fresh start when you need it most. The bankruptcy attorneys at West & Hurley can help provide a free debt consolidation consultation to help you find the right answer for your unique debt problems and circumstances. Visit http://www.debtfreeohio.com or call (513)771-8700 or (937)748-1749 to get the answers you want, and the financial relief you are looking for.