Pandemic puts gender inequality to the test
Women fear virus will ‘deepen’ workplace disparity as they juggle work, household duties
“It’s been pretty much a nightmare.”
That’s how Rebecca Haines-Saah, an assistant professor with the University of Calgary’s community health sciences department, describes the Herculean task of working from home while caring for her two young children during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Before the pandemic, Haines-Saah felt she was “already behind,” trying to get funding for projects on cannabis, opioids and other health issues. She’s been working from home since March 13 and says it’s difficult to find a quiet space in her townhome to focus on her job.
She tries to get as much done as she can when her kids, both of whom are usually in elementary school, are occupied with a game or video, before the next interruption. When her children are doing school work through Zoom, HainesSaah finds herself playing the role of tech support.
Haines-Saah, whose partner is an essential worker, believes that in many households, working from home while caring for children is a gender-equity issue. Many women, who statistically already earn less than their male counterparts, are doing the larger share of household duties.
“Careerwise, women (already) take a hit and this is just going to deepen it,” she said. She’s not alone. Nora Jenkins Townson, who runs her own Toronto-based human relations consulting firm Bright + Early, agrees that women are disproportionately affected right now — many are being laid off or have to leave their jobs to care for kids and keep the home running.
If both parents work for companies that aren’t understanding of the work that goes into caring for children and the amount of home responsibility that tends to fall on women, “it’s going to slide us backwards in terms of gender equality and women in the workplace,” Jenkins Townson said.
Jenkins Townson is busier than ever right now, with many of her clients needing advice on how to handle the pandemic.
Her child is 17 months old and needs constant supervision. She feels fortunate that her husband is a freelance worker who is also home and can help with child care, which isn’t the case for many.
As the boss, she’s trying to model self-care while running the firm — providing flexibility for her employees and taking a few vacation days for herself to show them it’s important to take a break.
She says employers need to be hyper-communicative during this time, constantly checking in with their employees. Not doing so could result in problems, not just now, but down the road, she says.
“The reality is, some employers are better than others … and we’re going to see that pretty clearly coming out of this.”
Checking in and providing flexibility are exactly what HR consulting firm Randstad Canada is recommending to its clients, says Carolyn Levy, president of technology.
It’s important that firms don’t take a one-size-fits-all approach to accommodation, says Levy, who has a six-year-old and a three-year-old.
She said the pandemic will be a true test for company culture, and any company whose culture was lacking before will struggle more.
“Companies that have a stronger culture to begin with tend to be weathering the storm a little bit better than those that didn’t have that time invested into their culture,” she said.
Levy said Randstad is urging its clients to communicate with their employees and to consider each of them individually. She said what organizations call flexible policies are often not flexible enough, and that it’s time for employers to rethink what they can make happen.
First, she said employers should ensure their employees have what they need to actually work, whether it’s checking to make sure they’re healthy or asking what they might need to make working from home, well, work.
Once the basics are secured, employers should keep checking in with their people — over video calls, if possible — and also set expectations so both parties are on the same page.
She said employers should encourage their employees to take care of their mental health first, and that leaders should be setting an example in terms of taking care of themselves and talking about their situation, whether or not they are a parent.
The federal government is giving families that receive the Canada child benefit a onetime increase of up to $300 per child, to be added to May’s payment. But so far the reality of trying to parent and work from home has gone largely unaddressed.
Levy says when the lockdown begins to lift, many companies might want people to continue working remotely, resulting in lasting changes to the workplace. But flexibility, especially for parents while schools and day cares remain closed, will be key.
“All these things that we thought would be impossible have become possible,” she said. “We’re making it work.”