Covid-19 & Women - The Weekly Update 👌

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Covid-19 & Women: your weekly update

Week 12: June 22-26 2020

Dear Subscribers,

We hope you are safe and well. This is our twelfth weekly newsletter, bringing you the latest on gender, the economy and Covid-19. If you like what we are bringing you, forward this email to a friend or two so they can sign up here.

We want to express our continued support and solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement demanding change both here at home and across the world. We are part of a sector that has work to do to be genuinely anti-racist. We must reflect & commit to change, today & everyday.

Keep reading for more news on the gendered and economic impacts of the pandemic in the UK and beyond. Scroll down to the bottom to catch upcoming events on gender, the economy and Covid-19.

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The Women's Budget Group on Covid-19

Coronavirus and the past, present and future of social care
The Covid-19 pandemic has laid bare the chaos in the social care sector. Many people in the UK are now seeing the consequences of decades of neglect and lack of regulation in a sector focusing on profits and cost minimisation. Although the crisis in care has been heightened and revealed by Covid-19, its origins are deeper. Read more here.

Briefings on Covid-19
Find everything the Women's Budget Group has done on Covid-19 here. This includes our reports on the impact that Covid-19 has on Social Security and Social Care, as well as joint letters, policy responses, and more.

Find it all here

Covid-19: the latest from home

Take action to protect pregnant women and new mothers against unfair redundancies!
Maternity Action is calling on the Government to support Maria Miller MP's Pregnancy & Maternity (Redundancy Protection) Bill. This would ensure that pregnant women can be made redundant only in very limited circumstances. YOU can support this campaign by writing to your local MP to ask them to support Mrs Miller's Bill on 8 July. Read more here.

How Somalis in east London were hit by the pandemic
Reporting for the Financial Times, William Wallis explores the reasons why this community’s experience fits the pattern of BAME groups suffering disproportionately. Read more here.

Uncharted Territory: Universal Credit, Couples and Money
A report published by Institute of Policy Research at the University of Bath reveals design and payment issues affecting couples with and without children claiming Universal Credit jointly. Read more here.

Positive Negative Podcast Episode 16 "The Solutions Need to be Structural" - Dr Sara Reis, Women's Budget Group
Women's Budget Group Head of Policy and Research Sara Reis discussed the impacts the lockdown has had, is having and will continue to have on women, on the Positive Negative podcast. Listen here.

Rainy days
Resolution Foundation published an audit of household wealth and the initial effects of the coronavirus crisis on saving and spending in Great Britain. Evidence suggests that poorer households reduced debt in the years immediately after the financial crisis but more recently debt levels have increased. Read more here.

Women doing more childcare under lockdown but men more likely to feel their jobs are suffering
Women in the UK are doing more childcare under lockdown – but men are more likely to say their caring or domestic responsibilities are negatively impacting their paid jobs, according to new research by King’s College London and Ipsos MORI. Read more here.

Nurseries warn of 'mass closures' as lockdown lifts
BBC reporter Hannah Richardson writes about how nurseries are warning of "mass closures" which could leave parents struggling to find childcare when they return to work as the lockdown eases. Read more here.

From Expendable to Key Workers and Back Again: Immigration and the Lottery of Belonging in Britain
Race equality thinktank Runnymede have published a report, which comprises a selection of essays from leading thinkers and policy makers on immigration, and calls for a major overhaul of the UK’s broken and inhumane system. The contemporary Covid-19 pandemic continues to expose many of the UK’s immigration policies as not fit for purpose. Read more here.

Covid-19: the global pandemic

Covid-19 fallout takes higher toll on women
Massimiliano Mascherini and Martina Bisello write for Social Europe, that while women appear to be more resilient than men to Covid-19 in terms of health outcomes, that is not the case when it comes to the economic and social fallout. Read more here.

The effects of Covid-19 measures on the mobility of men and women
Angela van der Kloof at Mobycon and Joy Kensmil from Mobypeople conducted research analysing data from data from Apple, Google and Translink about changes in mobility patterns, together with data from Statistics Netherlands and SCP. The study concluded that the impact of the Corona virus on mobility rates will be greatest among women, especially women with a lower level of education. Read more here.

Who Cares? Attracting and Retaining Care Workers for the Elderly
This recently published OECD report report presents the most up-to-date and comprehensive cross-country assessment of long-term care (LTC) workers, the tasks they perform and the policies to address shortages in OECD countries. It highlights the importance of improving working conditions in the sector and making care work more attractive and shows that there is space to increase productivity by enhancing the use of technology, providing a better use of skills and investing in prevention. Read more here.

Events for isolation

E-discussion: “Winners and Losers: Addressing economic and social inequalities in the context of COVID-19 crisis – a regional gender perspective”
30 June 2020 | 4.00pm-5.30pm BST

CEE Network for Gender Issues in cooperation with PES Women will explore the specific situation of women during this crisis in the Central Eastern European and Balkan region and draw together a solution-based approach to social and economic inequalities affecting women in the region. Register here.

Calls for papers: Gender and Covid-19

Politica Economica/Journal of Economic Policy. Submit by June 30, 2020. Find out more here.
Feminist Studies Journal. Submit by July 15, 2020. Find out more here.

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The Women’s Budget Group scrutinises government policy from a gender perspective. We are a network of leading feminist economists, researchers, policy experts and campaigners committed to achieving a more gender equal future. We have worked towards this since 1989.