COVID-triggered ‘She-cession’ Causes Hard Financial Times For Canadian Women

Summary

• Experts have dubbed the COVID-triggered recession as ‘she-cession’ because of its severe financial and employment-related impact on women.
• The latest Statistics Canada report shows solid employment rebound among women, although it is yet to reach the pre-pandemic level.
• The Canadian government has allocated C$50 million under COVID-19 Economic Response Plan for organizations helping out women escaping domestic and sexual assault.

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit one and all in some way or another. However, statistics from various surveys show that women have been more exposed to the social and financial hurdles brought on by the pandemic than men. From loss of employment, unpaid labor to taking on more overtime hours due to the pandemic, data show that women in Canada have had to tackle these at a higher rate than men since the coronavirus outbreak.

The Justin Trudeau-government has widely endorsed gender equality since it came to power in 2015, from forming a gender-balanced cabinet to promoting policies in favor of women empowerment. Statistics Canada data also shows that the employment rate for women in Canada had reached a record high in September 2019. However, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic changed that scenario to a great extent.

Women More Prone to Lose Potential Earnings Than Men

According to a report released by Statistics Canada in July, there was a 16.9 per cent drop in employment for women since February, as against 14.6 per cent for men. In March, when the coronavirus hit a pandemic level, women were more likely to have been impacted than men in the labor market, adds the report. In April, women between the ages of 15 and 24 saw a 37.9 per cent drop in employment rate, whereas for men that number was 30.5 per cent.

Source: Statistics Canada

As for business, up to 40.8 per cent of businesses that are majority-owned by women showed a 50 per cent dip in revenue from April 2019 to April 2020. The same Statistics Canada report also shows that nearly 10 per cent of majority-owned businesses by women were denied deferral of mortgage/rent payments, which is nearly twice the percentage of all businesses (5.7 per cent) who made the same request.

Women-Oriented Sectors Suffer

Professions that are women oriented, such as teachers, nurses, etc, have had to suffer largely once the lockdown kicked in. With schools shut, teachers had to put in extra effort to take classes online. Nurses, who, as per the 2016 Census, consist of 91.7 per cent women, saw extensive workload and overtime working hours. Statistics Canada says one-fourth of nurses worked overtime during the period of April to May.

At the same time, women who are in the profession of housekeeping, cleaning and service also faced a loss of income due to the social distancing and lockdown rules.

There’s Been Recovery, But Not Back to Pre-Pandemic Levels

Some experts have even dubbed the recession brought in by the pandemic as ‘she-cession’ due to the larger impact it has had on women than men in terms of employment and finance. In case of the Great Recession of 2007-2009, the crisis was often referred to as ‘men-cession’ as 78 per cent of the jobs lost then were held by men.

As per Statistics Canada August report, the rate of employment hasrisen faster among women (at 1.8 per cent with 150,000 positions) as compared to men (at 1 per cent with 96,000 positions). Data from July also shows a similar climb, with women gaining 3.4 per cent employment and men gaining 1.5 per cent. But since job losses were also higher among women around March, the gap of employment rate between July 2020 and pre-pandemic times is wider for women than men.

The data, as represented in the graph below, also shows that men aged 25-54 were least impacted by the pandemic-triggered loss of employment. For women of that age group, who were impacted more by the lockdown, the recovery has been slow as they reach almost 96 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.

(Source: Statistics Canada)

The rate of labour underutilization – the mismatch between labour supply and demand – has increased among women since the pandemic. As per July data, the rate dropped 5.4 percentage points to 22.9 per cent for women, whole for men it fell 3.5 percentage points to 22 per cent.

The rate of unemployment among South Asian Canadian (20.4 per cent) and Black women (18.6) was also much higher in comparison with South Asian men (15.4 per cent) and Black men (15.1 per cent), respectively.

Gender Gaps Remain in Labour Force Participation

The labour force participation increased by0.8 per cent among women and 0.4 per cent among men, as per the latest August data. The rate of labour force participation among men in the core 25-54 age group was within 0.2 percentage points of its pre-pandemic level, while that of core-aged women was 1.3 percentage points lower. The Statistics Canada report says this indicates that women are still indulging in work that considered non-employment-related activities, such as child and family care, at a higher rate than prior to COVID-19.

Meanwhile, the labour force participation rate for women aged 15-24 has dipped to 63.1 per cent from 65.1 in February.

What is the Government Doing?

The Canada has been adding new jobs to the market to compensate for the job losses in February-March period. The rising rate of women employment, as shown in the latest labour force study by Statistics Canada, indicates the situation being remedied for women.

Following increased reports of domestic violence during the pandemic, the COVID-19 Economic Response Plan has allocated C$50 million to support organizations supporting women and families escaping violence and sexual abuse.

The lockdown has kept children at home, making childcare an issue for working mothers. Social Development Minister Ahmed Hussen is leading an initiative to improve federal expenditure on childcare. The government also invested C$213,350 in a women-oriented organization named Yellow Brick Houseunder Women and Gender Equality Canada's Capacity-building Fund.

What’s in Store for Women in Canada?

Over the last three months, the rate of employment, which saw a fateful drop for women as the pandemic set in, has been slowly recovering. If the rate keeps on at this level, the glory days of high women employment could return to Canada. Although, another report by Statistics Canada also shows women postsecondary graduates from this year may face higher losses of earnings during the next five years as compared to their male counterparts.