Skip to content

The Economic Impact on Women of the COVID-19 Pandemic

No Comments
A woman customer receives a go-to meal from a restaurant worker during the pandemic. Both women are masked.

COMMISSION REPORT: California Blueprint for Women’s Pandemic Economic Recovery
PRESS RELEASE: California Blueprint for Women’s Pandemic Economic Recovery Released

CPL CHARTBOOK: The Economic Impact on Women of the COVID-19 Pandemic PDF

The California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls (CCSWG) released an in-depth report, the California Blueprint for Women’s Pandemic Economic Recovery, which shows the unique economic impact the pandemic had on California women using state-level metrics including Unemployment Insurance, credit data, and CalFresh data.

CPL’s research confirmed that California women, who faced systemic inequities before the pandemic, were also uniquely impacted during and after the pandemic, because layoffs were concentrated in sectors where women are the majority of the workforce and childcare challenges were unevenly borne by women. These issues were compounded for women of color, low-income women, and lower-educated women. While safety-net benefits played an important role, many of those, such as enhanced unemployment benefits and the expanded Child Tax Credit, have been withdrawn. The Commission is calling on policymakers to make an immediate intervention to address the findings from the report in order to prevent deeper poverty and decreased health outcomes for California women.

The California Policy Lab provided research to the Commission to support their work authoring this in-depth report. The CPL Chartbook includes some of the key findings from that research.

Select Media Coverage

Sacramento Bee: California must stop treating women as second-class citizens in the workplace (January 25, 2023)

 



Stay Informed