Black women are the most economically affected by COVID-19
11th May 2020 · 0 Comments
By Fritz Esker
Contributing Writer
Two new surveys discovered that Black women have been disproportionately hurt by the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lean In, a non-profit founded by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg dedicated to fighting for equality for women, conducted the surveys. The first indicated that Black women were twice as likely as white men to be laid off, furloughed or had their hours/pay reduced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Twenty-seven percent of the white male survey participants said this happened to them, compared to 54 percent of the Black female survey participants. The numbers for white women and Black men were 31 percent and 44 percent, respectively.
The employed women were nearly twice as likely as the employed men (27 percent to 15 percent) to say they would not be able to pay for basic necessities for more than a month if they lost their personal income. Black women (34 percent) were more than three times as likely as white men (11 percent) to say this. White women (25 percent) were more than twice as likely as white men to say this.
Nearly two-thirds of all employed women (63 percent) said they would not be able to pay for their basic necessities for more than three months if they lost their personal income. Less than half of employed men (47 percent) said the same.
Black women were the most likely to be concerned about paying for necessities. Sixty percent of Black women were concerned about being able to pay their rent or mortgage, compared to 24 percent of white men. Forty-three percent of Black women were concerned about being able to pay for their groceries, compared to 18 percent of white men. Thirteen percent of Black women were concerned about being able to pay for child care, compared to three percent of white men or women.
Women’s financial woes are compounded by the gender pay gap. In a 2018 report by the American Association of University Women (https://www.aauw.org/app/uploads/2020/02/AAUW-2018-SimpleTruth-nsa.pdf), Louisiana had the biggest disparities in pay between men and women. On average, full-time female workers earned 70 percent of what their male counterparts made.
Lisa Richardson, chief impact officer for the Institute of Women & Ethnic Studies, said a city like New Orleans has many women working in the service and hospitality industries. People who serve as hostesses or waitresses in restaurants or as hotel staffers or as casino workers will be facing a tremendous economic burden during the pandemic. She added many women also work in child care and day care facilities are still shut down.
“It’s the service industry in particular that we feel it here,” said Richardson.
Richardson said historic biases, expectations and societal inequalities (e.g. educational opportunities regardless of family income) have hindered women, and women of color specifically, from obtaining higher-paying jobs and jobs that allow employees to work from home.
“There’s a gendered expectation of the roles women should play in our society and there’s a racial expectation in the roles people should play in society. Black women are at the intersection of these realities,” said Richardson.
The first poll was conducted online from April 1-3 using SurveyMonkey. It drew from a total sample of 2,986 American adults ages 18 and over. Respondents were chosen from over two million people who take surveys on the SurveyMonkey platform each day. The modeled error estimate for the full sample is plus or minus two percentage points.
Lean In conducted a second survey from April 13-17 via Survey Monkey on stress and burnout during the pandemic. The new survey of 3,117 adults noted that women are more likely than men to be experiencing extreme stress and burnout. Twenty-five percent of women had physical symptoms of severe anxiety (e.g. racing heartbeat, among others), compared to 11 percent of men. Women were also more likely than men (25 percent to 17 percent) to feel they have more to do than they can possibly handle.
Richardson said those numbers are understandable because many women work in essential positions such as grocery stores, drugstores, etc. at a time when schools are out of session and child care is not readily available. This almost certainly adds another layer of stress on top of people’s existing health-related fears about the COVID-19 virus.
Fifty-one percent of Black women in the second survey said they worked outside of the home as an essential worker, compared to 42 percent of white men and 38 percent of white women.
“Women of color who are essential workers and single parents have even bigger challenges at this time,” said Richardson.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated with a correction to the name of the IWES executive director, Lisa Richardson.
This article originally published in the May 11, 2020 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
