Being born female is a life-long disadvantage for many women, including many of us living in North America. In Canada, women struggle for economic and personal security, access to justice, and access to mental health support services. It is even more of a struggle for Black and Indigenous women, single mothers, older women, and immigrant women. And COVID-19 has made the situation worse.
The participation rate of women in the workforce saw a staggering decline that has the potential to unravel the gains made toward gender equality and inclusion in recent years, and put future progress at risk. It also has the potential to threaten the recovery of Canada’s economy. Much has been written about the ‘She-cession,’ in which many female-dominated service sectors were hard hit by lockdowns. YWCA Toronto has been advocating diligently to make a ‘she-covery’ a priority of the Ontario government.
Women have also faced increased intimate partner violence during the pandemic. Indeed, by early 2021, Canadian social service agencies reported that domestic violence calls had nearly doubled. The situation became known as the ‘shadow pandemic.’ The Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability reported that 92 women and girls were killed in the first six months of 2021 compared with 78 during the same period in 2020, and 60 during the same period in 2019 across the country. Pressure on Violence Against Women shelters mounted with increased demand for services and staff shortages. According to research published in the Osgoode Hall Law Journal, “survivors’ ability to prove domestic violence and secure court orders that would help to ensure their safety was hampered not only by procedural complexity but also by the reduced availability of a range of services—health, counselling, housing, and supervised access centres, for example—as a result of COVID-19”.
Health systems were overwhelmed by the pandemic, resulting in considerable damage to women’s health, including mental health, as services were suspended or limited. A new Canadian study looking at the mental health of mothers before and after the start of the pandemic has found that their levels of depression and anxiety almost doubled in 2020, particularly those mothers who had income disruptions, difficulty balancing homeschooling with work responsibilities and difficulty obtaining childcare.
The pandemic has brought the fragility of gender equality to the forefront. Failure to act now will result in long-term consequences that will harm women and their families.
Women make up about fifty percent of the population of Canada. Helping women return to work, secure stable jobs, and earn equitable pay is paramount to Canada’s economic recovery. The longer women stay out of the workforce, the more protracted the recovery will be, and the harder it will be for women to re-enter the workforce.
We need our governments to invest in programs and services that will facilitate a ‘she-covery.’ We need our governments to invest in women.
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Contributed by Marli Ramsey, former YWCA Toronto Board Member and Board Chair, and current member of YWCA Toronto’s Advocacy Advisory Committee.
Image from Canva Photos