The Pandemic Suffering Gap is Real

The burden and consequences of the pandemic are not being shared equally between men and women. Guess who has it worse.

Photo by Cindy Tang on Unsplash

I don’t want need a clever intro to this piece. I’d rather start with the bottom line: women are carrying an unequal share of the burden and suffering from the pandemic than men.

It’s not fair, it’s not equitable — and men have a responsibility to level the playing field, which in turn will help benefit us all.

I’m not referring just to case counts and fatalities, though women are in positions of greater risk of being exposed to the coronavirus than men.

And one ginormous caveat upfront: I live alone, I am not a parent. I have no home-schooling responsibilities to share, I have no household duties at all to share. In other words, it’s easy for me to say. I get that.

But facts are facts.

More than a third of working women work in industries (health care, and leisure and hospitality) that have been significantly impacted by the pandemic.

Fewer than 16% of working men are in those fields.

And women are paid less to be exposed to increased risk in both of those fields.

Another important field is teaching. Women make up nearly three-quarters of schoolteachers.