lee patriquin knows what it’s like to struggle. a teenager when her first daughter was born, the ottawa woman worked hard to pull herself and her children out of poverty.
the single mother of four girls now works in the construction industry and is proud of the life she has built for herself and her daughters, aged 16, 11, 9 and 7.
but that life is suddenly more precarious because of covid-19. and she is not alone.
the covid-19 pandemic has thrown the world off balance. and women are taking a disproportionate hit.
“in lots of ways, people have called it the women’s pandemic,” said andrea gunraj, vice-president of public engagement at the canadian women’s foundation. “it seems to be hitting women, in particular, in unique and difficult ways.”
since the first cases showed up in canada last winter, more canadian women than men have died from covid-19. most of the deaths in canada have been among long-term care residents. and the majority of those residents were women.
the impact on women goes far beyond the illness itself.
the pandemic has ushered in the first so-called she-cession, with women initially experiencing more job losses than men and being slower to return to work. it has also resulted in women shouldering a disproportionate amount of unpaid care-giving responsibilities with children out of school and daycare. meanwhile, women, especially women of colour, are more likely to be in jobs that put them at risk of covid-19, and there have been reports of a surge in domestic violence calls.