A few things keep me up at night, but at the top of the list is the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on young people, especially young women.
There is an overwhelming body of evidence that demonstrates that women have faced the brunt of the pandemic, from unprecedented job losses to the impact of increasing unpaid care work and the devastating rise in gender-based violence across the country. As coined by economist Armine Yalnizyan, Atkinson Fellow on the Future of Workers, the “she-cession” has been relentless in reversing decades of hard-fought gains to advance gender equality in the workplace.
Young people have also faced disproportionate impacts because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Millennials and members of Gen Z have faced disruptions to their schooling, were often the first workers laid off because of COVID-induced lockdowns, were shortchanged in their earnings, and are experiencing higher levels of anxiety, depression and social isolation. Job insecurity is on the rise, and young people are unclear of where to take their careers in this time of economic uncertainty. The economic consequences of their departure from the labour market, including reduced lifetime earnings, atrophied skills and erosion of professional networks, could be felt for up to 10 years.
These factors are further compounded for young women, especially Black, Indigenous and racialized women; women living with disabilities; and newcomer women. Statistics Canada highlights that young women are the demographic group that is furthest from pre-COVID-19 employment numbers. An RBC Economics report by Dawn Desjardins and Carrie Freestone found that while Gen Z women make up just 2.5% of Canada’s labour force, they represented 17% of the job losses.
Through my work, volunteering and participation in mentorship programs, I speak with young people across the country every week. They share their hopes, their fears and also their frustrations that their needs are not being considered in pandemic policy-making. I worry that if we don’t take the right steps now, young people will become a “lockdown generation” with limited opportunities to realize their full potential.
So how do we prevent that from happening?
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