Women have been most impacted by COVID-19, but there’s help – and hope

By Melissa Karns, WE CAN

In an instant, working moms were stationed at home, meeting the demands of daily deadlines while juggling children in between Zoom sessions. Stay-at-home moms became teachers as schools were shuttered and e-learning became the norm. Women without children, too, experienced exclusion from everyday networking opportunities. And unemployed women struggled to make ends meet during a time when even entry-level positions vanished as stores and restaurants closed or reduced hours.

There’s little doubt women experienced the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic perhaps more than any other demographic. Now, women grapple with the aftereffects; namely, the majority of jobs lost during the pandemic were held by women.

According to the National Women’s Law Center, the COVID-19 pandemic has created a “she-cession” — an economic downturn in which job and income losses are affecting women more than men. The she-cession has further widened longstanding gender and racial inequities.

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