it’s time to recognize the people carrying society through this pandemic with their unpaid labour. with schools and daycares closed, who is looking after the children? who is caring for elderly parents, cleaning the home, sewing the homemade face masks, picking up prescriptions, meal planning, and bearing the
anxiety of going grocery shopping?many of these tasks often falls on the shoulders of the matriarch. researchers have warned that putting this disproportionate burden of
unpaid labour on women is unsustainable. in a study published year, australian researchers found
mothers do twice the amount of housework fathers do, no matter the income they make.because many women’s careers are concentrated in caring and service industries or minimum-wage paying jobs, many have also lost their income as a result of the pandemic.on friday may 8, ontario’s official opposition leader andrea horwath
addressed women’s burden in a press conference:“at the core of this devastation is a simple fact: women are bearing the brunt of the economic pain resulting from covid-19. before this crisis, of all those struggling financially, relying on food banks or payday loans, 60% were women. now during the pandemic, women — especially racialized women — are disproportionately the ones on the frontlines at the most risk of contact with the virus.”“nationwide, women make up more than 80 per cent of healthcare and social service workers. they also make up the majority of minimum-wage earners, like grocery store staff who have been deemed essential.”horwath says in ontario, women have lost the majority of the jobs since this crisis hit. and because women entrepreneurs are also more likely to own businesses that are self-financed or work in the service industries, their businesses are among the hardest hit by the economic shutdown.since january, she reports that 188,000 women over the age of 25 have lost their jobs. horwath says ontario needs to provide financial support to workers and small businesses instead of relying on the federal government.“since women are also doing the lion’s share of unpaid work, like childcare work, household work and elder care, they are disproportionately impacted by the shutdowns of schools and childcare centres during the pandemic. ”“people are hurting and the pandemic’s recession is definitely a she-cession,” says horwath. “there will be no recovery without a she-covery.”
diana duong is a writer and editor at healthing. find her on twitter @dianaduo.dduong@postmedia.com
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