The government has committed to a feminist, intersectional response to the pandemic; and, as a first step, created a taskforce to guide an Action Plan for Women in the Economy.
The pandemic has demonstrated how essential women-majority sectors are to the economy and our societies’ well-being – yet they offer low wages and fail to attract meaningful government investments. The Fall Economic Statement was a missed opportunity to show commitment to improving women’s work in these women-majority sectors, including the care, non-profit, retail and hospitality sectors.
COVID-19 intensified care work for the roughly 25,000 migrant care workers, almost all of whom live in their employers’ homes. Close to 1 in 3 care workers lost their jobs, either temporarily or permanently, because of COVID-19 and many faced ongoing problems with obtaining emergency income support and Employment Insurance. Reforms to Employment Insurance need to expand women’s access and extend to the most vulnerable women workers. Adopting best practices from the CERB delivery will help get benefits to more people more quickly.
