What is ‘Mancession’
An economic instance in which the unemployment rate is substantially higher among men than it is among women. The term “mancession” was coined during the financial crisis of 2008-2009, during which men bore the brunt of the job losses in the United States, at rates close to 50% higher than those of women.
Explaining ‘Mancession’
Analysts have tried to understand the mancession phenomenon, and have offered a few possible reasons. First, during the financial crisis of 2008-2009, the majority of jobs that were initially cut were in the male-dominated manufacturing and construction industries, leading to disproportionate levels of joblessness among males.
Also, at the time it was reported that women in the United States accounted for nearly 60% of the college degrees handed out during that period, meaning that a greater number of women were working white-collar jobs, especially in publicly-funded industries such as education and healthcare, which saw far fewer cutbacks than male-dominated industries.
Further Reading
- Mancession or Momcession: Good Providers, a Bad Economy, and Gender Discrimination – heinonline.org [PDF]
- Economic recession and recovery in the UK: what's gender got to do with it? – www.tandfonline.com [PDF]
- Memes, masculinity and mancession: – www.tandfonline.com [PDF]
- The great he-cession: Why feminists should rally for the end of white supremacist capitalist patriarchy – www.tandfonline.com [PDF]
- The post-crash decade of American cinema: Wall Street, the" Mancession” and the political construction of crisis – ruj.uj.edu.pl [PDF]
- The well-being of working women in times of economic crisis and recovery: Insights from the Great Recession – link.springer.com [PDF]
- Mancession-A Panel Data Analysis (2000-2009) – papers.ssrn.com [PDF]
- Transcending the impact of the financial crisis in the United Kingdom: towards plan F—a feminist economic strategy – journals.sagepub.com [PDF]
- Women and austerity: the economic crisis and the future for gender equality – www.tandfonline.com [PDF]
