The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted everyone, but not equally. While no one is untouched by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, women have been disproportionately affected. The pandemic has exacerbated existing inequities; we discuss the Unmasking Gender Inequity with the BCWHF’s subject experts on the socioeconomic impact; with women shouldering 60% more job losses in March than men; women losing 26% of work hours in April due to childcare; and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women’s health in British Columbia. Furthermore, the higher risk of exposure and to infection from COVID-19 for women in BC working in one of the four industries with high face-to-face interactions (healthcare, retail, education, accommodation, and food services).

We converse these imperative issues with Dr. Marina Adshade, Professor of Economics at UBC, and the commissioned economist for the Unmasking Gender Inequity report. Dr. Marina is one of Canada’s foremost economics experts on the role of women in society and a major advocate for inclusive cultural reform. Dr. Marina is one of the primary subject matter experts on the data and results in the report and shares what we can learn from these findings.

We also invite Jamie; a teacher and mother of two. She shares her story as a teacher, loss of work, increased caregiving responsibilities, and losing the support system she once had access to as the pandemic unfolded. Jamie discusses her personal experience, advocating for increased support for teachers and women in pandemic recovery plans.

To finish our 2nd to last episode of the year we also give you our Netflix pick of the week and share our topic for the last episode of 2020. Thank you always for listening, commenting and sharing with your friends and family.