**1. Introduction**

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the global community in significant ways since its inception in 2020. The United Nations [1] asserted that the COVID-19 pandemic has deepened preexisting inequalities across every sphere, including the global economy. Research has also found that the pandemic has more negatively impacted women than men. For example, Cerullo [2] stated that nearly three million American women left the labor force during the first year of the pandemic, and many have not returned [3]. While a number of pre-pandemic studies discussed pervasive gender inequality in the division of household labor and childcare when both partners were employed full-time [4–6], more recent studies have reported that during the pandemic the burden of household labor and childcare has fallen even more disproportionally on women [7–9]. More specific to women's management of work–life balance during the pandemic, The Institute for Women's Policy Research reported that women, and particularly women of color, have experienced even greater struggles with managing paid work, caregiving responsibilities, and other types of

unpaid obligations during the pandemic than prior to it [10]. Rogers [11] found early in the pandemic that working remotely, which many workers were forced to do during the lockdown, benefited men's careers but halted women's advancement [11]. Even though the long-term repercussions of the pandemic on women's careers remain to be seen, many findings thus far published support the notion that the pandemic could make women's professional advancement more challenging than it was prior to 2020.

To facilitate a more equitable recovery in the aftermath of the full-scale pandemic which persists at some level in nearly all parts of the world—it is important to more deeply understand the negative effects of the pandemic on women's careers. Understanding women's experience is foundational to creating environments where women can thrive. To meet this need, this article shares the results of one open-ended question that was included in a large mixed-method research study designed to explore the impact of COVID-19 on women at work. The open-ended question, responded to by 2564 survey participants, was: "How has the pandemic impacted your career advancement experiences and opportunities over the short term and longer term?" [12]. The objective of the overall mixed-method survey was to understand the impact of the pandemic on women from different demographics in Utah, identified by age, education, race/ethnicity, marital status, socioeconomic status, county/region, job type, sector/industry, hours worked per week, employment status, and workplace situation. The survey results were provided to Utah leaders and state residents so that they could better develop and design related public policies, organizational procedures, training and development programs, and other responsive interventions to help entities better support women's work and professional advancement in a post-COVID-19 environment.
