Women seem to be bearing the brunt of the economic fallout and taking on a greater share of domestic work and childcare. Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff looks at whether the virus has meant a huge step back for women’s rights
Men have paid disproportionately with their lives during this pandemic, yet it’s women, Gaby Hinsliff tells Anushka Asthana, who seem to be bearing the brunt of the economic fallout. Women working from home are also shouldering more of the housework and childcare than men, according to research from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), while young women were hardest hit by redundancies early on, when female-dominated sectors such as retail, hotels and hairdressing salons shut overnight. Gaby says she worries it is turning back the clock on the huge strides forward that women have made over the past few decades.
Anushka also talks to Georgie, a paramedic who was pregnant when Covid-19 hit. She had all her shifts cancelled as a result of pregnancy discrimination, and is now taking her agency to a tribunal. She describes the enormous impact that it had on her mental health and her pregnancy.
