Canadian Women & COVID-19
It goes without saying that 2020 has been a crazy year for our country. In a few short months, Canada’s economy and our institutions were turned on their heads as we contended with the massive changes brought upon by the global COVID-19 pandemic. While the hopeful promise of a vaccine in early 2021 means we may experience some level of relief from social distancing and infection control soon, the dramatic social, economic and political shifts brought upon by COVID-19 will be felt in Canada for decades to come. As with most major global events, some demographics feel the negative effects more than others; in regards to COVID’s effects in Canada, it’s clear that our country’s women are being particularly negatively affected.
The reason women are feeling the effects of COVID more than men is a multi-layered problem with its roots in long-standing inequalities between the two genders. To start, women still feel the effects of the gendered pay gap, meaning they are usually paid less than their male co-workers even if they do the same job with the same degree of skill. According to StatsCan, Canadian women between the ages of 25 to 54 earned an average of $4.13 per hour less than their male counterparts in 2018; this means that Canadian women earn roughly $0.87 for every dollar earned by Canadian men. As a result, women have less disposable income than men, and thus are likely to have a smaller amount of savings to fall back on. This puts Canadian women at a greater risk of becoming financially insecure, meaning they’ll be less likely to be able to cover their short-term financial needs without taking on debt and are also less likely to be able to withstand a sudden financial shock. If you’re looking for more information on what financial insecurity is, you can check out our recent Money Talks post on financial insecurity here.
As you likely already know, the pandemic was a major financial shock for millions of Canadians, and particularly for Canadian women. Within just the first two months of the pandemic, 1.5 million women lost their jobs due to the economic contractions experienced in Canada during that time. This is tied into the fact that women tend to work in the industries that were hardest hit by government orders to shut down; these include hospitality, food service, aesthetic services, retail and educational services. Beyond that, now that the economy has started to recover, data is showing that men are being re-hired quickly, while women are dragging behind. All in all, the pandemic has pushed female involvement in Canada’s workforce down to its lowest level in over three decades.
The reason women are dragging behind is because women are still more likely to be tasked with domestic work (ex. cleaning, cooking and childcare) than men are. Though the divide of household labour between men and women is generally less one-sided then it would have been in the 1950’s and 60’s, Canadian women still feel the effects of this type of inequality in a major way. However, the specific problem of childcare has become a landmark issue for millions of Canadian women today. When Canada’s school kids headed home in mid-March, countless parents that rely on school to provide childcare so that they can earn income for their families were left in limbo. Without access to daily childcare, many women were forced to consider if they could manage a full-time workload while also having to care for their kids and offer them guidance as they took classes from home. This isn’t to say that men weren’t dealing with the same issues, but as men are more likely to be paid higher than women, it’s tough to justify losing a man’s income when tough choices must be made in a heteronormative home. This was even more difficult for Canadian single moms, as single moms were already stretched thin between earning an income to support their families while still raising their children pre-COVID. Since the onset of COVID-19, now single moms can’t even call upon their family members and friends to assist with watching their kids while they work (this is particularly tough if an older family member, like grandma, used to be a regular caregiver). Without school, having a job and ensuring their kids were safe essentially became mutually exclusive for Canadian single mothers.
Beyond all this, the understandable stress of contracting the virus hangs over the heads of Canadian women across the country, affecting their mental health and negatively impacting their ability to perform their jobs. A study by CAMH showed that young adult women and women with young children are two of the most likely demographics to feel the effects of anxiety and depression, and COVID is causing daily stress levels for Canadian women who work outside their homes to reach new heights. Women are feeling significant levels of concern about bringing the virus home to their families, infecting those they love and putting everyone in a position where they must go into 14 days of quarantine. For lower-income women who often work outside of the home, that’s a constant internal struggle when they leave for work every day, knowing they need to go and earn money to survive but that they’re potentially exposing themselves COVID-19 every day on the job. Being exposed would eventually become a loss of 14 or more days of income if they have to quarantine, not to mention all the negative health impacts becoming sick with COVID-19 could have. This is an immense amount of financial stress to take on, and means that many working Canadian women are understandably distracted on the job. They know that losing that two weeks of income at such a precarious time could be catastrophic in terms of the long-term effect it has on their financial health and their family’s well-being.
For Canadian women right now, there’s an incredible amount riding on whether or not school can stay open throughout the school year. If Canadian schools close again this winter as they did in March, parents of school-age kids will lose their main source of childcare and will again have to contend with what to do. In most families, this will mean that moms will stay home with the kids, and the female presence in Canada’s workforce will continue to decline. This threat of a winter lockdown is also particularly troubling for women who feel trapped in tough or violent situations due to their lack of financial independence. Domestic violence against women has been on the rise in Canada since the onset of COVID-19, and gaining freedom from this kind of situation through employment and diligent saving would be next to impossible during another severe wave of COVID-19 lockdowns.
With all that said, it should be clear that the myriad of problems that have been created and amplified for Canadian women during this pandemic are no joke. These changes are drastically reducing the number of women in our country’s workforce, which is effectively rolling back all the progress that Canadian women have made over the last 50 years in gaining some level of gender equality in our society. If women can’t work and support themselves independently, they essentially become subordinate to men and lose control over their own lives. So, if you’re an employer, you may be wondering, what are some practical solutions I can enact to help support my female employees these days? The obvious first answer is to interview and hire more women if you’re in a position to do so. If you’re currently in the process of hiring, keep in mind as you peruse resumes that fewer women are being re-hired at the moment and that this imbalance should be actively corrected across our country as soon as possible. Of course, you’re not wrong for wanting to hire the best candidate irrespective of gender, but if you can afford to give a woman an opportunity to work, you should! Beyond that, if you’re in a position to influence the amount of money your employees earn, work to ensure that your female and male employees are earning equal wages. Beyond the fact that this should already be the norm, Canadian women will need that extra income as they support themselves and their families through this coming winter.
Another action you can take is to give your female employees a great degree of flexibility in their work schedule if it’s feasibly possible. This should be of particular importance if you know you have employees that are moms with school-age children. If your employees must work outside the home, remind yourself to be lenient with them if they need to come in a bit late on occasion, or leave work early; they may be dealing with childcare issues, or something of a similar nature. If your employees are working from home, you may be allowing for this kind of arrangement already. Still, be sure to give them time during the day if they need it to manage their personal responsibilities. In general, Canadian women have a ton on their plates these days between their professional commitments, childcare, domestic work and all sorts of COVID-related stress. If your employees are submitting good quality work on somewhat of an unusual schedule, let them do so! Offering your female staff members this kind of flexibility may be the difference between them keeping their job and having to quit in order to manage their personal responsibilities. Giving your employees flexibility is also a great way to strengthen their sense of loyalty to your organization and will show them you value and respect them. According to a study by MetLife, employees who feel valued by their organizations are shown to have a stronger sense of attachment to their jobs, are more willing to work hard and are more likely to remain in their current role on a long-term basis. Ultimately, you can support your female staff members, increasing their chances of staying in the workforce, while also boosting your employee retention and engagement rates – win win!
Another great way to help your female employees is to start some kind of female support network within your staff. Even if you don’t have thousands of employees, if you have female staff members, it’s a fair assumption that they’re feeling the financial, mental and physical effects of the pandemic and could use some extra support. If you have a small team, check in with your female staff members personally; see how they’re doing and ask if there’s anything you could be offering that would help alleviate some of their stress. Even if they’re not willing to share, by offering your support, you’re showing them that you value their overall well-being and mental health. They may feel more comfortable coming to you to talk in the future if you make an effort to show them you care today. If you’re an employer with a large amount of employees, you can work to create a forum (online or otherwise) where your female staff members can connect, get to know each other better and share advice on how they’re handling pandemic-related challenges. You can work to involve extras like seminars that will offer your female employees some education on basic financial literacy, how to manage stress effectively or simply to offer a sense of comfort in numbers.
Finally, to help your female employees manage COVID-19, you can offer your staff a financial benefits plan that helps them manage their individual short-term financial needs effectively. This spring made millions of Canadians realize that they aren’t equipped to handle a financial emergency, such as losing a job (even if it’s only a temporary lay-off). This kind of realization has caused financial stress to rise dramatically; according to MetLife, 72% of women feel more stressed out because of the pandemic. As mentioned above, women are already more likely to be vulnerable to this kind of sudden economic contraction due to the gendered pay gap and the kinds of industries they’re likely to work in, and thus were more likely to experience serious financial issues with the onset of COVID. By encouraging your employees to save a portion of each paycheck and pledging to match a portion of their contribution, you’re helping them buffer themselves from an unexpected financial shock while also helping them practice strong financial habits. By offering your staff a benefits package, and then taking the time to ensure that your female employees are taking advantage of them, you can help them manage financial stress more effectively and make sure they stay afloat in the event COVID-19 leads to a very challenging winter.
Millions of Canadian women are facing difficult times, and unfortunately, it’s unclear to all when (or if) things will ever return to a pre-pandemic version of our economy and workforce. In order to ensure that Canadian women don’t get left behind during our country’s pandemic recovery, it’s important that Canada’s working women are given extra support to ensure they can get back to work and maintain their financial independence. If you’re an employer, you’re uniquely positioned in today’s economic climate to make a real difference in the lives of your female employees. So, if you’re interested in adopting an innovative, impactful benefits package to help ensure your female employees rise above pandemic-related challenges, match-based saving benefits may be right for your business. QUBER is an industry leader in Canadian match-based savings and can offer Canadian employers a customized experience using the QUBER platform to facilitate match-based savings with their employees. If you’re interested in seeing a demo of QUBER in action, send us an email at contactus@quber.ca or visit our Employers page and send us a message using the contact form found at the bottom of the page.
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