A year ago, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus (COVID-19) a global pandemic.
It has been one difficult year, and the COVID-19 crisis radically altered the social and economic fabric of the United States. This past year, we experienced lockdown orders, witnessed food bank lines wrapped around blocks and most of the nation’s students moved to virtual-only education.
We have felt unbearable sadness at the inequity of social conditions that powered the pandemic, and the profound shock of over 530,000 deaths (and counting). For many, this past year was an emotional and economic roller coaster, taking an unbearable toll on many across the country.
But if there’s one group who suffered the most significant social and economic impacts during this national health crisis, it was undoubtedly women, and especially Black and Brown women.
Since March 2020, over 2.3 million women have left the workforce. This past February 2021, the labor force participation rate for women in the U.S. was 57%, the lowest rate since the late 1980s.