Among the many findings of the federal government’s fiscal snapshot released Wednesday, is the glaring conclusion that women have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.
The document’s gender-based analysis – a breakdown of how COVID-19 has affected men and women differently – shows women have severely felt the weight of COVID-19 both from a health and socio-economic perspective.
"At the national level, Statistics Canada data indicates that women represent 80 per cent of health-care workers and more than half of retail, and accommodation and food services workers," the snapshot states. Bezanson said the unequal division of labour in the home has meant women have experienced a loss in productivity and now face job insecurity given the lack of available childcare options and uncertainty around sending kids back to school in the fall."I think all of us know families that are sitting down and saying well if schools don’t go back full time, which one of us is going to leave our jobs or reduce our hours, and we know usually its women," she said.
"Those kinds of demands of parenting and homeschooling and care up until now hasn’t been visible in the same way, so I think we have a moment now where we have a consensus understanding that childcare really is at the centre of what permits us all to undertake all of the other things that we do," said Bezanson.
"We are proposing to invest in a safe, sufficient and adequate supply of childcare, so that parents, especially mothers, don’t have to choose between going to work and ensuring their children are taken care of."
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