Celebrate Women's History Month with Groupon

03.01.2021

Since 1987, the US has designated the month of March as Women’s History Month. A celebration of the outstanding achievements of women throughout American history, Women’s History Month is also dedicated to the empowerment and support of women everywhere.

As a platform that champions small businesses and a company that employs female leaders, Groupon is proud to celebrate Women’s History Month by spotlighting the unique women-owned businesses we partner with every day.

 

Why Supporting Women-Owned is More Crucial Than Ever

While celebrating and empowering female entrepreneurs has always been a priority for Groupon, we recognize that support of women-owned businesses is especially critical this year, as women have been disproportionately affected by job loss during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

  • Women have suffered the majority of pandemic-related job losses: since February 2020, women have lost over 5.4 million net jobs, and account for 55.0% of overall net job loss since the start of the crisis.*
  • More than 1 in 12 Black women ages 20+ (8.4%) were unemployed in December of 2020 vs. their pre-pandemic unemployment rate of 4.9% in February.*
  • More than 1 in 11 Latinas ages 20+ (9.1%) were unemployed in December of 2020 vs. their pre-pandemic unemployment rate of 4.9% in February.
  • 2.1 million women have permanently left the US workforce since the beginning of the pandemic.†
  • More than 1 in 9 (11.4%) women with disabilities were unemployed in December, an increase of 4 percentage points from February’s rate (7.4%).
  • The childcare crisis is creating a major setback for women entrepreneurs, especially those who are Black and Latina.††

The above statistics illustrate a women’s unemployment crisis, the effects of which are likely to linger long after the pandemic has ended. While there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to the problem, one small thing we can all do to help is to seek out and support women-owned businesses in our communities.

 

 

#ChooseToChallenge

In addition to celebrating Women’s History Month in the US, Groupon is also excited to honor International Women’s Day on March 8th. Like Women’s History Month, International Women’s Day is all about empowering, supporting, and advocating for women and advancing gender equality around the globe.

This year’s International Women’s Day theme is “Choose To Challenge”, a rallying call to recognize, call out, and challenge gender inequality in our daily lives. At Groupon, we’re meeting the #ChooseToChallenge call-to-action through a continuation of our commitment to identify and boost visibility of women-owned businesses on our platform across the globe. As a company, we are also pushing for increased representation of women in Director+ leadership roles and tech roles.

 

Groupon’s Commitment to Women-Owned Businesses

Groupon is dedicated to supporting our female and female-identifying business partners, not only during Women’s Small Business Month but beyond.

Listening & Learning

We’re continuing our outreach to women and female-identifying business partners nationwide to learn more about the services and support needed that Groupon may provide through connections to our partners.

Supporting Our Merchants

We’re partnering with women-owned business organizations and governmental agencies at the federal and state levels to gather a list of available resources. In October, we also co-sponsored virtual-panel discussions for merchants as part of our Women’s Small Business Month initiative. Finally, we’ve created a free Merchant Marketing toolkit to celebrate Women’s History Month loudly and proudly!

Amplifying Women's Stories

We’re making an ongoing effort to seek out and highlight women-owned businesses through our social media and other initiatives. Check out our Facebook and Instagram to see the inspiring women-owned businesses we’ve featured during our past initiatives, and subscribe to meet the following business owners, who we’ll be profiling throughout the month of March.

*According to a report by the National Women’s Law Center

†According to Forbes, American Women Lost More Than 5 Million Jobs in 2020 

††According to Forbes, The Childcare Crisis Limits Women Entrepreneurs’ Potential 

 

Illustrations by Emily Mungovan

Sign up for 20% OFF

Stay in the know with emails and save on experiences you'll love near you. Good for three days only!