Inclusion in the next normal

A week from now, the world will once again mark International Women’s Day (IWD) with this year’s theme being “Choose to Challenge.” It’s a call to push back against gender bias and inequality wherever we encounter it, a call to challenge the status quo so that we can create a more inclusive world. This coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic has given us – men and women alike – so much cause to heed that call.

While the global health crisis has disrupted lives everywhere, it has had a particularly detrimental effect on working women. A United Nations policy brief released in April 2020 warned of the pandemic’s “compounded economic impact” on women and girls who generally earn less, save less and hold insecure jobs. With women taking on a bigger burden of unpaid care work, they are also making greater sacrifices at their jobs, in some cases opting to drop out of the workforce entirely to care for their children or other family members.