According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, while the national economy added 175,000 jobs, Black women lost 106,000 positions. Their unemployment rate jumped from 5.1% to 6.1%. This represents the steepest increase across any demographic, even as the national unemployment rate remained 4.2%.

Labor economists know uneven unemployment patterns like this one across different groups often signal underlying economic problems that don’t show up in the overall job numbers. Historically, marginalized communities experience economic downturns first and most severely, functioning as what NAACP President Ben Jealous describes as “canaries in the coal mine” for the broader economy.

The dramatic 1 percentage-point spike in Black women’s unemployment rate is particularly concerning when viewed against recession indicators like the Sahm Rule, which flags potential economic downturns when unemployment rises by 0.5 percentage points or more above recent lows. Though national unemployment remains stable, these demographic disparities suggest we may be witnessing the early stages of economic stress that could eventually affect all workers.

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The warning signs are already flashing. We need to understand women’s economic participation is not just a matter of equity but of economic stability for everyone.

Women have always worked. The notion women’s access to employment is a novel social experiment ignores centuries of paid and unpaid labor that has built our economy. What’s changed is not whether women work, but how their work is valued and compensated.

A thriving workforce that includes women is smart economics. According to McKinsey, advancing women’s economic equality could add $12 trillion to global GDP this year. If women participated in the workforce at the same rate as men, that number would jump to $28 trillion — the equivalent of 26% of global GDP. For the United States alone, achieving gender parity could boost GDP by $4.3 trillion this year. But the flip side reveals the staggering cost of inaction. The economic damage is severe and long-lasting when women leave the workforce en masse. Global GDP growth could be $1 trillion lower in 2030 simply because we didn’t keep women employed.

But the real cost isn’t just in today’s missing paychecks. Women who step away from work face a cascade of long-term financial consequences: smaller Social Security checks, reduced retirement savings and missed promotions that would have shaped their careers.

Companies suffer too. Research shows firms with gender diversity in executive teams see 18% to 69% profitability boosts. When businesses lose women, they lose access to diverse perspectives, skills and leadership styles that drive innovation and resilience.

When half the population faces barriers to full economic participation, the entire economy operates below capacity.

According to Equilar’s Q1 2025 data in Colorado, women’s board participation has backslid — a scary statistic that should serve as a wake-up call to the business community. This regression demonstrates exactly why we cannot afford to become complacent about women’s advancement. Without intentional, sustained efforts to promote women into leadership positions, progress not only stalls, it reverses.

Framing women’s workforce participation as merely “DEI” fundamentally misunderstands both history and economics. Women’s workforce equality isn’t just about fairness. It’s about fundamental economic competitiveness and growth. Instead of treating women as a DEI checkbox, we need policies that recognize women’s work as fundamental to economic health. 

Women aren’t DEI — they’re GDP, and our economy can’t afford to ignore this fact.

Simone Ross is president and chief executive of the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce.