“Men lost jobs at a greater rate in the first rush of the Great Recession in 2008, but women are now lagging far behind in the recovery.

A report to be released today by The Institute for Women’s Policy Research in Washington, D.C., and commissioned by the Women and Girls Foundation of Southwest Pennsylvania, has found that while men have regained 63 percent of the jobs lost in the recession, women have regained only 12 percent of the jobs they lost.

The report also found that during 2011, with widespread cuts to government spending, women saw a net reduction in jobs, while men experienced gains.

“In the stimulus, there was this focus on ‘shovel-ready’ jobs,” said Heather Arnet, CEO of the Women and Girls Foundation, pointing out that shovel-ready jobs tend to be in the construction and building industries mostly populated by men.”