shecession

she·ces·sion
S1H4E1C3E1S1S1I1O1N1
UK/ʃiːˈsɛʃn̩/US/ʃiˈsɛʃn̩/

noun

Excessively high female unemployment.

Scrabble 15

Meanings

nounshecession (plural shecessions)

plural shecessions

  1. uncommonExcessively high female unemployment.

    In widening their investigation to 26 countries in Europe and North America, Doepke and his colleagues reveal that the U.S. was not alone in experiencing a “shecession.”

    2022 March 24, Matthias Doepke, “Women at Work: From a Milestone to a ‘Shecession’”, in Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern, archived from the original on 02 May 2024
    2 more examples

    As Figure 2 shows, the model for the impact of regular versus pandemic recessions on women and men matches the evidence. A regular recession is a ‘mancession’, meaning that women’s total labour supply increases relative to men’s, whereas the pandemic recession is a ‘shecession’, with deep employment losses for women.

    2020 September 22, Michèle Tertilt, Matthias Doepke, Jane Olmstead-Rumsey, Titan Alon, “The shecession (she-recession) of 2020: Causes and consequences”, in Centre for Economic Policy Research, archived from the original on 02 May 2024

    Called the “shecession” by some economists, the coronavirus pandemic is unlike other modern recessions in that job losses are greatest among women, who dominate jobs that cannot be done remotely, like food service, retail and hospitality.

    2020 November 2, Katie Surma, “Pandemic recession becomes ‘shecession’ as more working moms are forced to quit jobs Previous”, in Chicago Tribune, archived from the original on 02 May 2024

Origin

Blend of she + recession, likely modeled after mancession. Popularized during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with shecession

All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

shecession. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shecession

MLA

“shecession.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shecession. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “shecession,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shecession.

Source: shecession on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.