How coronavirus is setting women’s rights back decades

Sign up for the Independent Women email for the latest news, opinion and features Get the Independent Women email for free Get the Independent Women email for free SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Of parents surveyed by the Fawcett Society and Women’s Budget Group, 15 per cent of mothers reported taking unpaid leave, while just eight per cent of fathers had done. The failure to recognise childcare as essential social infrastructure means that we’re heading towards a major crisis Mary-Ann Stephenson, Women’s Budget Group While chancellor Rishi Sunak specifically thanked “mums” for juggling childcare and work, a previous report by the Women and Equalities Committee claimed that the government had failed to consider the “caring inequalities” experienced by women. And yet the government has repeatedly failed to consider them.” Director of the Women’s Budget Group, which scrutinises government policy from a gender perspective, Mary-Ann Stephenson, agrees, telling The Independent: “The failure to recognise childcare as essential social infrastructure means that we’re heading towards a major crisis where women are at risk of losing their jobs and those who don’t might not be able to work because of lack of childcare.” And it’s not just mothers who are feeling the burden at home: even women without children are doing disproportionate numbers of unpaid hours in the home. It found – as did the government’s own research – that women were more likely to be furloughed than men – which meant taking a 20 per cent pay cut unless employees top it up – women were twice as likely to be key workers than men, and young women were disproportionately in sectors facing shutdown: 36 per cent of young women worked in sectors including restaurants, shops, leisure, travel and tourism.