Progress towards gender equity, our social fabric and economic recovery are all at stake.
Talk to your family, friends and neighbours about how they’re coping during the coronavirus pandemic, and the answer likely isn’t linear. While the pandemic has created widespread job loss and economic hardship, the impacts have been most severely felt among women, especially Black, Indigenous and women of colour. Economist Armine Yelnizyan coined the term “she-cession” to refer to the vastly different impacts of this recession versus past recessions which tended to impact male-dominated jobs more than feminized ones.
“The economic challenge created by the coronavirus is hitting women particularly hard,” said Canada’s Finance Minister, Chrystia Freeland, in September 2020. “It’s hitting mothers particularly hard. We are seeing women’s participation in the workforce falling very sharply.”
According to a report by the Royal Bank of Canada, Canada saw women’s participation in the workforce fall by 4.7 percent at the onset of the pandemic between March and May of 2020. In April alone, women’s participation in the workforce dropped by 55 percent, the lowest in this country since the 1980s.
Most definitely, women employed in the sectors hardest hit by the pandemic will see a slower recovery. Over 56 percent of women workers are engaged in a role that involves providing care to the public – or the “5 c’s – caring, clerical, catering, cashiering or cleaning.” Women are at greater risk of contracting the virus because of their work if they are still working, and subsequently are much more likely to be laid off given how these sectors have been affected with shutdowns and other pandemic flattening tactics.
In December, The Feminist Shift published a report produced by the Waterloo Region chapter of Data for Good, which examines women’s status as it relates to employment, poverty, sexual violence, and justice outcomes. The research for this report was gathered before the pandemic. Knowing the impact the pandemic has had on women’s employment and, by extension, their economic autonomy and security, we can safely assume the numbers below are even worse 10 months into this province-wide crisis. Key findings of the report showed:
- Women are providing the essential services of our community, 85% of our health care and social assistance sector is female, 66% of our education sector is staffed by women, and 53% of our retail sector are female workers.
- Women hold 72% of part-time positions, and only 66% of women in our community are employed/looking for work.
- The proportion of women inactive in the labour market due to personal or family responsibility (37%) is 3.1 times higher than the proportion of men (12%).
With the latest stay-at-home orders in Ontario under effect until at least February 2021, families are once again scrambling to provide child care and support school-age children’s remote learning. Employers who don’t offer flexible work arrangements to balance the increased demands of childcare and a remote learning environment are also creating additional challenges for women. These household responsibilities, along with cooking and cleaning, most often fall to them, even if both parents continue to work full time.
Canada’s childcare centres are still open and operating, but many are just scraping by with increased costs for the necessary sanitization and PPE to run, as well as reduced class sizes requiring increased staffing. Many facilities have empty spots left by parents choosing not to enrol their kids and opting to care for them at home. Parents may have lost their jobs, are working remotely, or don’t want to risk their child’s exposure to the virus.
Maya Roy, CEO of YWCA Canada, spoke with Today’s Parent about the increased risk for daycare closures as the pandemic continues into 2021. Roy says YWCA believes that about 20 percent of for-profit centres are at risk of going under, and for non-profits, it’s closer to 50 per cent. There is a growing concern for our child care system’s viability post-pandemic and how this could impact Canada’s economic recovery.
When women opt out of the workforce because they can’t find quality child care or only return to part-time work, the gender pay gap continues to grow. Now, more than ever before, we must recognize the importance of women’s participation in our economy and labour market. With decades of progress towards gender equity at stake, our society and our ability to recover from the pandemic are at stake if women aren’t a key consideration in our government’s and employer’s plans to move forward.
To tackle this growing challenge, YWCA Canada and The Institute for Gender and the Economy at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management partnered to create a Feminist Economic Recovery Plan for Canada based on eight pillars for recovery. They emphasize the importance of supporting the care economy, investing in social infrastructure and childcare and support women-owned businesses. You can learn more about the Feminist Economic Recovery Plan for Canada or for a localized talk on what a Feminist Recovery could look like in Waterloo Region watch this video from a forum held with some of the leaders in this movement, organized by Feminist Shift.
We welcome you all to join in advocating for an economy that works for everyone as we look ahead to life beyond the pandemic.
This submission was written by Lorette Kooymans, Communications + PR. Loretta also serves as a board member for YW Kitchener-Waterloo.