Uneven economic recovery not taking all Canadian women with it, experts say

Experts say Canada’s labour participation overall is positive for women, but an uneven economic recovery has not benefited all women.

Brittany Feor, economist at the Labour Market Information Council, says during the pandemic recession, job losses were almost evenly split between men and women, and of the women who lost their jobs, 70 per cent were working low-income jobs.

The Canadian Women’s Foundation (CWF) held a recent poll that shows about two in five moms said they put their career on the back burner to manage home and caregiving responsibilities.

Andrea Gunraj, vice president of public engagement for the foundation, says that finding is “interesting and upsetting” because it shows moms are putting aside paid work to be able to manage unpaid work, potentially jeopardizing their economic well-being.

The poll surveyed 1,506 Canadians from April 20th to 21st and cannot be assigned a margin of error because online panels are not considered truly random samples.

Gunraj says the national child-care program could help women caregivers as long as it’s truly affordable and accessible to the families who need it most.

The federal government’s highly touted national child-care program aims to make care more affordable for parents.

“The pandemic is intensifying economic barriers women already face throughout Canada, and research suggests that, long term, pandemics can take a higher toll on women’s incomes than men’s,” says a CWF statement.

“Poverty in Canada is already gendered. Women make up 60 per cent of those in Canada who are economically “struggling”, meaning that they report difficulty covering basic expenses and may need pay day loans or food banks to get by,” they added.