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These are unprecedented times. This global pandemic has forced schools to close, businesses to shutter, and people to quarantine. Gender, racial, and economic inequities that already existed in the United States are becoming magnified as we weather the twin health and economic crises facing the United States and the world. 

Women workers are on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19. Nearly 80 percent of healthcare workers and 83 percent of workers who provide social assistance, including child care and emergency services, are women. And women-dominated occupations, such as nurses, flight attendants, and personal care aides, are among the most vulnerable to getting sick and spreading it to others. 

Women are also in the position to suffer the most in an economic recession. Even in good times, women are the most economically vulnerable, comprising nearly 60 percent of workers in low-wage occupations. Low-paid women workers have very little in the way of savings, which means it is much harder for them to weather economic shocks, especially when they are likely to be supporting a number of dependents. 

Take action below to help protect vulnerable workers, learn what is at stake for women during the COVID crisis and imminent recession, and read the stories of women on the front lines. 

Learn more about:

Women on the Front Lines at Work

Women on the Front Lines at Home

Women on the Front Lines of the Recession

Women on the Front Lines at Work

From health care to home care, restaurants to grocery stores, women workers, low-paid workers, and women of color are on the front lines where workers are at greatest risk for the health and economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Women workers are the backbone of our economy — and never more so than in times of crisis. 

Women are at the front lines of the current health crisis: nearly 80 percent of healthcare workers and 83 percent of workers who provide social assistance, including child care and emergency services, are women. 

Women-dominated occupations, such as nurses, flight attendants, and personal care aides, are not only among the most vulnerable to getting sick in this global pandemic — they also hold essential jobs that allow the rest of the economy to function. Data shows that women are 45.5 percent of grocery workers, 65.3 percent of pharmacy or drug store workers, and 70.9 percent of health and personal care workers, excluding drugstore workers — making women disproportionately at risk of contracting COVID-19. 

Women are overrepresented in low-wage jobs — jobs less likely to have basic workers protections. 

Women’s physical and economic health is especially vulnerable. Women comprise nearly 60 percent of workers in low-wage occupations — jobs that pay less than $11 per hour. These jobs are overrepresented in the service industry, which means they have a high impact on the health of the economy and put their workers at high risk of contracting COVID-19. 

Low-wage workers are also less likely to have basic worker protections, like paid sick and family leave — protections that safeguard workers and are crucial to stopping the spread of COVID-19.  Only 51 percent of employees in the bottom quarter of pay nationally say they get paid sick leave and only one percent say they have remote-friendly jobs. 

From health care workers to Amazon warehouse employees, women have been sharing their heartbreaking stories from the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis. 

Elizabeth Carrion, a janitor for Citigroup, is one of them. Carrion was told after the fact that she may have cleaned a floor exposed to COVID-19. As she told the The New York Times, “‘we should all be valued the same, so who guarantees my safety?’”

Are you a woman working on the front lines? We want to hear from you.

Tell us your story below or share it on social media using the hashtag #WomenOnTheFrontLines.

Women on the Front Lines at Home

The COVID-19 crisis has drastically changed the way households operate. At best, it has meant scrambling to find child care following school closures. At worst, it has meant taking time off from work to care for a sick family member. In the United States, that often requires taking that time without any pay.

These changes have both exposed and exacerbated deeply-ingrained gender imbalances — forcing women to bear the brunt of unpaid household labor and family care.

Even before the COVID-19 crisis, women worked the “second shift” 

Women are now a majority of the U.S. workforce — but in addition to their paid employment, they still take on the majority of unpaid household labor and care work. Even before the COVID-19 crisis, women shouldered a disproportionate amount of unpaid labor related to the health and well-being of their loved ones in comparison to their male counterparts. 

Longstanding research has shown that women in opposite-sex partnerships do more of the domestic work and child-related planning — even in dual-earning couples and when the woman makes more money. Eighty percent of single-parent households are headed by mothers, who assume the unpaid labor in their households. In total, women spend 102 more hours a year than men on unpaid chores and family care and black caregivers spend an average of 28.5 more hours per month caregiving than white caregivers.

COVID-19 has created a “third shift” — disproportionately shouldered by women

Now, as COVID-19 forces schools to close, businesses to shutter, and hospitals to ration care, many women have to do even more with even less, creating a veritable “third shift” that endangers everyone’s health and well-being. 

The public health crisis is poised to overwhelm hospitals — putting the burden on caregivers to care for their loved ones. Sixty percent of caregivers are women, meaning many women are taking care of sick relatives and children — all while working paying jobs to make ends meet. 

Better workplace policies are key to leveling the field in this crisis — and making us more resilient in the future

Because of gender and racial disparities, such as the pay gap and the paid leave gap, women are more economically vulnerable and insecure during times of economic uncertainty. 

The United States is one of only two OECD countries in the world that does not guarantee workers paid leave for personal illness. Today, 32 million workers in the U.S. don’t have access to a single paid sick day. And lower-wage workers — caregivers, restaurant servers, and those who directly interact with the public — are the workers least likely to have paid time off. 

This is always an injustice, but especially so during a global pandemic. No one should fall into financial ruin or experience hardship simply because they need to take time off from work to care for a new child, tend to an ill family member, recover from an injury, or help stop the spread of the coronavirus. 

It doesn’t have to be this way. Congress can step up and pass legislation that immediately — and permanently — provides all working people with paid sick days and paid family leave to care for sick loved ones. 

Contact your member of Congress today. 

Women on the Front Lines of the Recession

The COVID-19 crisis has already changed the global economy as we know it. An unprecedented number of businesses have been forced to shut their doors, leaving millions of Americans out of work. Unemployment claims have hit the highest in recorded history as we head towards an imminent recession. Data from past recessions and the state of the economy pre-COVID-19 shows us that the economic downturn is poised to hit women — especially women of color — first and hardest.  

Women workers are among the most economically vulnerable

Low-paid women workers — and low-paid workers more generally — have very little in the way of savings, which means it is much harder for them to weather economic shocks, especially when they are likely to be supporting a number of dependents. 

Women of color also have much less wealth to fall back on during an economic downturn. In 2007, white women had a median wealth of $45,400 compared to a median wealth of $100 among black women and $120 among Latinx women. 

Overall, women in the United States hold less wealth in the aggregate, but an economic downturn would hit older women particularly hard. According to the Social Security Administration, the median retirement income in 2012 for women ages 65 and older was $16,040 compared with $27,612 for men. Reporting coming out of the Great Recession demonstrates how older workers are hardest hit when markets take a downturn — right before they cash out their assets and are about to retire. 

It is also harder for older workers to find new jobs, especially in an already contracting economy. One study found that the health effect on older workers is more severe during a recession, which is especially daunting given the lack of widespread family and medical leave policies in this country. 

History has shown us that women — particularly women of color — suffered extensively in previous economic downturns.

Women disproportionately lost jobs relative to men across the economy during the 2008 financial crisis. In the wholesale, retail, and restaurant sectors women lost about 42,000 more jobs than expected based on the share of women in those sectors. 

Following the 2008 recession, women had a particularly difficult time bouncing back compared to men, where men had stronger gains in employment. In fact, women gained only two million out of five in a half million jobs that were recovered in the wake of the recession. 

Black women, who are more likely to hold public sector jobs, struggled when state and local governments cut jobs. Between 2007 and 2011, state and local governments eliminated about 765,000 jobs, of which women and African Americans comprised 70 percent and 20 percent, respectively. However, while public-sector employment rates for black men had returned to pre-recession levels by 2013, black women did not make the same economic recovery. 

Investing in women workers is key to jumpstarting the economy

Getting our economy back and running won’t be possible without a significant investment in women workers — ensuring that women workers can provide the services that allow the rest of the population to go back to work and purchase goods and services to help the economy recover. 

Women drive the majority of consumer spending and extensive household economic decision making. That means that women’s well-being will play a critical role in kick-starting an economic recovery. Almost 80 percent of women are the primary shoppers for their households and are much more likely to do the grocery shopping and pay household bills compared to men. Women’s purchasing power reaches up to $15 trillion annually. 

Moreover, worker-friendly policies such as paid sick leave are good in the long run — for both workers and employers. Research has found that productivity drops by 20 percent when employees work when they are sick. Providing paid sick days could save employers up to $1.8 billion each year through fewer absences from reduced spread of flu-like illnesses alone.

When workers are doing well, our economy does well. Our economy is deeply interconnected: workers are consumers, consumers are caregivers, and vice versa. Without worker-forward policies in times of crisis, we won’t have the economic resiliency we need to bounce back quickly from a downturn.