Mr. Speaker, as society struggles to find balance during the pandemic, it is clear that women have a difficult road to travel to recover from the crisis.
Given the greater loss of jobs held by women last year and the fewer options available to them, many women were forced to choose between their work and parenting. Last February, women accounted for almost half of the labour force in Canada. Since then, almost two out of every three jobs held by women have been lost.
By July, those losses had erased three decades of gains made by women in Canadian workplaces, while unpaid work, such as caring for children, increased.
In a few short weeks, we will celebrate the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future on International Women's Day. The challenges presented by this gender-based employment gap, which is being described as a “she-cession”, make it clear that we must focus on the “she-covery” to ensure the path forward is equitable.