Women and families most affected by COVID-19, says group

Two years after it was declared, women and children are still disproportionately bearing the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the P.E.I. Advisory Council on the Status of Women. 

Back in October 2020, the council published a report called, Gender and COVID-19 in Prince Edward Island: In the words of women-identifying Islanders, March to July 2020. 

In that report, women spoke about their experiences in the areas of gender-based and family violence, essential work, small business, caregiving and more —and how COVID-19 had changed their lives. 

"People were very stressed," said Cathy Rose, chair of the council. 

Rose said a number of things have continued to contribute to that stress. 

Addictions issues have increased, as have food insecurity concerns, particularly for single women. Researchers found that women, and in particular caregivers, are at a breaking point. 

The impact was also felt professionally more by women, Rose said. Small business owners who are women are frequently running hospitality businesses, which were hard hit over the last two years. 

The government has done a good job of trying to respond quickly," Rose said. "It's such a changing environment that often it's not quick enough, but they've done their best to provide those supports."

Parents of school-aged children are bracing for staying home and isolating and at the same time, concerned about caring for elderly parents, she said.  

Violence increased

And if a woman's home situation wasn't safe before the pandemic, it's likely not improved. 

"The incidence of family violence has increased by 23 per cent," she said, adding that women didn't want to take their families to shelters because they didn't want to expose them to COVID-19.  

Rose said it's those who are vulnerable and excluded already who have been made more so by the pandemic, like members of the LGBTQ and BIPOC communities as well as Islanders with disabilities.

And to improve things? 

"We need to push back for inclusion and system change and not be bullied into a return to normal that increases disparity," she said.