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The last recession was dubbed, by some, the “mancession.” While the employment rates of both sexes took a dive, those for men hit a particularly low bottom. Despite this, women in the Milwaukee metro area and throughout Wisconsin are still more likely than men to live in poverty, according to the Wisconsin Women’s Council, and women are enjoying fewer job gains as the “mancovery” begins.

According to the report, prepared by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research in Washington D.C., 14 percent of Milwaukee area women (ages 18 to 64) lived in poverty in 2009, compared to 11 percent of men. For elderly women, there was less poverty but a larger disparity: 11 percent lived in poverty, compared to 6 percent of men.

Statewide, the numbers are similar but slightly lower. Among adults of all ages, 13 percent of women lived below the federal poverty line, compared to 10 percent of men.

The report, based on data from the U.S. Census’ American Community Survey, attributes women’s higher poverty to the gender wage gap (women in the Milwaukee area make about 76 percent as much as men), the concentration of women in “lower-paid occupations in retail, services, education, non-profits and health care” and the rising number of single-parent households headed by women. In 2009, 72 percent of families living in poverty in the Milwaukee area were headed by single mothers.

The gap in male-female poverty persisted despite large increases in male unemployment. In 2009, the male unemployment rate in the Milwaukee area averaged 11.1 percent. For women, it was 7.3 percent.

Last year, as recovery began, the unemployment rate for men fell to 9.4 percent, whereas the rate for women didn’t budge; it remained at 7.3 percent.

The concept of a “mancession” is nothing new. Such a disparate impact on men has typified recessions for decades. In a 1993 report, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics studied five recessions ranging from 1962 to 1992 and found that in each, men lost more jobs than women.

“This fact is primarily attributable to the distribution of male and female employees in the various industries,” the BLS report says. “The goods-producing industries, which employ large numbers of men, sustain the greatest job losses during downturns.”

Experts have offered similar explanations for the most recent mancession, but the Women’s Council report suggests that women will face a continued stagnation – or major new jobs losses – as public sector employment is cut. For them, the losses may lag behind those suffered by men.

“Women’s higher dependence on jobs in the government and publicly-funded sectors typically means that job losses lag behind those of men, who are more likely to work in the private sector,” it says. “State governments initially were able to draw on financial reserves but are now faced by budget crises because of reduced tax revenues as a result of the recession.”

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