Opinion: Celebrating the profound ways in which women provided care during the global COVID-19 pandemic must involve more than the conjuring of nice words and the banging of pots and pans.
Women in Canada were more likely than men to lose their jobs at the onset of the pandemic. And perhaps most concerning of all, we have seen women’s participation in the economy fall to levels we have not seen in more than 40 years.
Whether women were working or not, we pressed women into service en masse as home-school teachers and care providers. They have shouldered the lion’s share of at-home learning, with 64 per cent of women compared to only 19 per cent of men being “most responsible” for teaching their children at home. We must be purposeful and act with urgency to address the immediate repercussions of the pandemic on women. We must dismantle the systemic issues that drove these impacts on women over the past two years and continue to impede our progress.
When we write or speak about women, our words must focus on their ideas and strategies instead of their appearance. Importantly, empowering women in their professional lives also means empowering them in their choices outside of work such as starting — or not starting — a family.