COVID-19 Resources for Working Women

President's Council for Women - Resources

The President’s Council for Women team has put together a document containing the Top 5 Suggestions for Supervisors of Women Trainees & Employees during COVID-19.

Coronavirus: 5 Ways to Work from Home with Your Kids (and Stay Sane) 

Friedman and Westring. (March 16, 2020). World Epidemic Forum.

URL: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/03/working-parents-school-closures-coronavirus/

Working parents benefit greatly from thinking and acting like leaders. COVID-19 presents the leadership challenge of our lives as parents. How we respond will have a powerful impact on our children and our communities.

How Working Parents Are Navigating Child Care During the Coronavirus Pandemic 

Hinchliffe, E. (March 20, 2020). Fortune.

URL: https://fortune.com/2020/03/20/coronavirus-pandemic-childcare/

Employees may be navigating everything from 24/7 child care to care for elderly parents to concern about spouses and other members of the household working as doctors, grocery store cashiers, and more.

The Coronavirus Is a Disaster for Feminism: Pandemics Affect Men and Women Differently 

Lewis, H. (March 16, 2020). The Atlantic.

URL: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/03/feminism-womens-rights-coronavirus-covid19/608302/

“Grim as it is to imagine now, further epidemics are inevitable, and the temptation to argue that gender is a side issue, a distraction from the real crisis, must be resisted. What we do now will affect the lives of millions of women and girls in future outbreaks.”

“What’s the Right Thing to Do?” Coronavirus Forces Families to Make Painful Child Care Decisions 

Luscombe, B. (March 17, 2020). TIME.

URL: https://time.com/5804176/coronavirus-childcare-nannies/

A huge disruptive force like a pandemic can wreak havoc in solid well-run businesses — like, say, the New York Stock Exchange. Its effect on people’s precarious child care arrangements can be catastrophic. “We’ve never had this before,” says Liliana Maslog, who has been a professional nanny for 18 years. “There’s no system or arrangement to tell us what to do.”

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act: Summary of Key Provisions 

Moss, et al. (March 23, 2020). Kaiser Family Foundation.

URL: https://www.kff.org/global-health-policy/issue-brief/the-families-first-coronavirus-response-act-summary-of-key-provisions/

Key provisions of the Families First Act, which addresses the domestic outbreak, including paid sick leave, insurance coverage of coronavirus testing, nutrition assistance, and unemployment benefits.

Parent/Caregiver Guide to Helping Families Cope 

(March 1, 2020). The National Child Traumatic Stress Network.

URL: https://www.nctsn.org/sites/default/files/resources/fact-sheet/outbreak_factsheet_1.pdf

Knowing important information about the outbreak and learning how to be prepared can reduce your stress and help calm likely anxieties. This resource will help you think about how an infectious disease outbreak might affect your family — both physically and emotionally — and what you can do to help your family cope.

Here’s What Parents Dealing with Coronavirus Isolation Want You to Know 

Petersen, A.H. (March 20, 2020). Buzzfeed News.

URL: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/annehelenpetersen/coronavirus-covid19-parents-kids-childcare

Everything that was once simple feels difficult, and everything that was already difficult feels impossible.

Working Moms Among the Hardest Hit by Coronavirus Pandemic 

Smith, K. (March 18, 2020). CBS News.

URL: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/working-moms-among-hardest-hit-coronavirus-pandemic/

“The need to care for children when a school is closed, it is most likely to pose a disproportionate burden on women.”

Parenting Through the Coronavirus Lockdown 

Strauss, E. (March 17, 2020). CNN.

URL: https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/15/health/parenting-emotional-labor-coronavirus-wellness/index.html

“For me and many others, managing the threat of the virus is adding a new and significant dose of domestic and emotional labor to our lives. If you are the mom in the family, odds are that most of this labor is falling in your lap.”

Coronavirus Is Having an Outsized Impact on Working Moms: The Consequences of COVID-19 Are Already Gendered 

Valenti, J. (March 10, 2020). GEN Medium.

URL: https://gen.medium.com/coronavirus-is-having-an-outsized-impact-on-working-moms-207b955825c6

In addition to the strain these closings put on low-income families — many of whom depend on the two meals a day their children get at school — working parents are going to suffer. Working moms, in particular.

10 Tips for Staying Emotionally Healthy During the Coronavirus 

Pearce, Michelle. (March 21, 2020).

URL: https://medium.com/@drmichellepearce/psychologists-10-tips-for-staying-emotionally-healthy-during-the-corona-virus-3ddd4d0c26ea

Taking care of your emotional health during this time of uncertainty and upheaval is critical. Michelle Pearce, PhD, a clinical psychologist and UMB Graduate School faculty member, shares 10 practical tips for staying emotionally healthy.

AAMC Calls for Enhanced National COVID-19 Data Collection to Better Address Health Disparities 

Association of American Medical Colleges. (April 10, 2020).

URL: https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/press-releases/aamc-calls-enhanced-covid-19-data-collection-health-disparities

Engaging state and local public health departments, private testing labs, and hospitals — all on the front lines of the pandemic response — in the data collection effort is essential to avoid undue burden on these systems.

COVID-19: The Gendered Impacts of the Outbreak 

Wenham, C., et al. (March 6, 2020). The Lancet.

URL: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30526-2/fulltext

Recognizing the extent to which disease outbreaks affect women and men differently is a fundamental step to understanding the primary and secondary effects of a health emergency on different individuals and communities, and for creating effective, equitable policies and interventions.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Gender Equality 

Alon, T. et al. (April 2020). The National Bureau of Economic Research.

URL: https://www.nber.org/papers/w26947

The economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 crisis has substantial implications for gender equality, both during the downturn and the subsequent recovery.

Where Can Domestic Violence Victims Turn During COVID-19? 

Selvaratnam, T. (March 23, 2020). The New York Times.

URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/opinion/covid-domestic-violence.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&fbclid=IwAR0bOFC64SBzwKTWYKT8vCtg1rO7VP2yC9EX2U85-rJB6x_e5NAFSqDC9mc

Self-isolation during the pandemic can be dangerous for those in abusive relationships. Resources are limited, but there are options.

Under the Blacklight: COVID and Disaster Capitalism 

(April 2020).

URL: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/11-under-the-blacklight-covid-and-disaster-capitalism/id1441348908?i=1000470798060

Five incredible change-makers join “Intersectionality Matters!” podcast host Kimberlé Crenshaw for a conversation about building collective resistance and power in the time of COVID-19.

Coronavirus: A Look at Gender Differences in Awareness and Actions 

Frederiksen, B., et al. (March 20, 2020). Kaiser Family Foundation

URL: https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/issue-brief/coronavirus-a-look-at-gender-differences-in-awareness-and-actions/

Women are more likely than men to report mental health effects from worrying about the coronavirus.

Abortion During the COVID-19 Pandemic — Ensuring Access to an Essential Health Service 

Bayefsky, M.J., et al. (April 9, 2020). The New England Journal of Medicine.

URL: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2008006

The president of the American Medical Association issued a statement on March 30, 2020, in support of continued access to abortion and explaining that physicians, not politicians, should decide which procedures can be delayed.

 

In Focus: Gender Equality Matters in COVID-19 Response 

UN Women.

URL: https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/in-focus-gender-equality-in-covid-19-response#news

The COVID-19 pandemic is not just a health issue. It also is a profound shock to our societies and economies, and women are at the heart of care and response efforts underway.

Coronavirus Layoffs Could Erase Many of Women’s Workplace Gains 

(March 26, 2020). Catalyst.

URL: https://www.catalyst.org/2020/03/26/coronavirus-layoffs-could-erase-many-of-womens-workplace-gains/

Research suggests women are more likely to lose jobs in layoffs. Heres why and how to prevent this from happening.

Why We Need Women’s Leadership in the COVID-19 Response 

(April 3, 2020). World Economic Forum.

URL: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/women-female-leadership-gender-coronavirus-covid19-response/

As the virus continues to spread, governments, research labs, and health facilities should commit to ensuring that women in leadership is not the exception, but the norm.

The Pandemic and the Female Academic 

Minello, A. (April 17, 2020). Nature.

URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01135-9?utm_source=Publicate&utm_medium=email&utm_content=the-pandemic-and-the-female-academic&utm_campaign=April+20%2C+2020

Academic work — in which career advancement is based on the number and quality of a person’s scientific publications, and their ability to obtain funding for research projects — is basically incompatible with tending to children.