When we plunged into our first lockdown last year, people did one of a few things: drink, bake, hustle, sleep, or home educate. Or… they continued as normal. The pandemic and its challenges has changed the way people work, and many women have moved into the side-hustle game. Here’s some stats for you:
- In the first six months of the 2020-2021 financial year, Etsy sales were up 71% as people handcrafted items to sell to supplement their income.
- Did you know the humble side hustle accounts for £72 billion every year in the UK, which is approximately 3.6% of our GDP?
- A huge proportion of people with side hustles are adults under 45.
- In the North East of England, 30% of adults have a side hustle.
- Side hustles make up an average of 20% of a person’s income, providing essential funds to support individuals and their families.
It may not surprise you to hear that the majority of ‘side hustlers’ are women. However, we know women we unfairly impacted by the pandemic, especially those with children. We expected our women to work like they didn’t have children, and yet we expected them to raise children like they didn’t have work to do. Many have therefore moved into self-employment, working making crafts and handmade gifts, as coaches, virtual assistants, or dipping their toes into MLM, in a bid to achieve a better work-life balance.
Does it work though?
According to Forbes, women are less likely to have an adequate support system, are more likely to struggle with balancing their responsibilities, and may be less likely to be taken seriously in the business world due to gender discrimination.
Furthermore, women are likely to have lower starting funds, meaning they have to work much harder and are placing themselves at financial risk in the beginning. Is it any wonder that burnout is on the rise? According to McKinsey, women are hit significantly harder than men, as shown in the graph below.
On top of gender bias, women of colour are also losing ground to their white female counterparts in the workplace. The McKinsey study also showed that, in the workforce and in business, women of colour hold a tiny proportion of the leadership roles. In 2021, we should be doing BETTER.
There is no easy answer to the problem, but more must be done to support women in business to protect the progress they have made. While 30% of businesses are owned by women, there is room for much improvement here.