Women have been overwhelmingly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis. Recognizing this, the federal government announced its commitment to create an Action Plan for Women in the Economy  in its September 2020 speech from the throne.

The Ontario Nonprofit Network, Canadian Women’s Foundation, and Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives have written a report in response, outlining what an inclusive  national action plan for women in the economy should look like. It outlines two key approaches:

• Overcome barriers to women’s participation in paid employment by investing in early learning and child care, violence against women, gender-based violence services, and accommodations for women with disabilities, and other women have struggled to find a foothold in the labour market
• Create the public infrastructure necessary to spur the creation of decent work and shared prosperity for all, by investing in the care economy, including health care and elder care, decent work for those at the margins or left out of the labour market, modernizing income security to protect women in today’s labour market and reducing income inequality by expanding programs that support women in the workforce.

Read the full report here.