Why the second lockdown is likely to hit women hardest again

With a second coronavirus lockdown looming, fears have been raised that the burden of new measures to contain the virus will have a disproportionate impact on women. Pregnant nurse shares important information for expectant women amid coronavirus outbreak “This is a crisis disproportionately affecting the most disadvantaged, and so we remain keen to hear the government explain what impact this virus is having on women and how it plans to address their needs including through requiring employers to report redundancy and job loss data by protected characteristics and ensuring gender pay gap reporting is reinstated for April 2021.” Recommended Women cooped up with violent partners during lockdown recount horror Sam Smethers, chief executive of the Fawcett Society, a leading gender equality charity, told The Independent that the sectors which are worst hit by lockdown measures are “female-dominated” but especially affect low-paid, younger women and migrant workers. “With the sector already under substantial financial pressure, the longer this situation continues, the more pressure that both women working in the early years sector, and those that rely on it, will be under.” A recent study by the Work Foundation found women are especially at risk of being pushed out of their retail sector jobs in the future due to the sector relocating to warehouses and logistics centres rather running out of shops in the wake of consumers’ habits moving online, due in part to the pandemic. Recommended Most England councils had no extra housing for domestic abuse victims While Sophie Francis-Cansfield, of Women's Aid, a leading domestic abuse charity, told The Independent their previous research found two-thirds of women said they felt they had “no one to turn to” in the first lockdown. “It is vital that the government’s communications echoes this, and clearly states that women and children experiencing abuse are able to leave their homes.” Jane Keeper, the director of operations at Refuge, the UK’s largest provider of shelters for domestic abuse victims, told The Independent it is critical there are ways to ask for help online as it can be especially difficult for victims to call during lockdown.