Enact A Feminist Pandemic Recovery In NYC, Park Slope Politician Says

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — A group of local leaders released a 12-point agenda outlining how New York City could pave the way for a feminist recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Since COVID-19 hit New York City, women, and especially women of color, have been forced to bear the brunt of the economic and emotional toll," said Park Slope City Council Member Shahana Hanif, pointing to a first-of-its-kind report concurrently released by Council Member Tiffany Cabán and City Comptroller Brad Lander, which analyzes the gendered impacts of the pandemic in NYC and outlines policy changes that would promote a feminist recovery.

After losing nearly 220,000 female workers at the onset of the pandemic, the number of women working in the city's labor force returned to pre-pandemic levels at the end of 2021 (still trailing men), but those job opportunities are mostly concentrated in lower-paying, frontline social service jobs with limited job protections, according to the report.

The pandemic also put women on the frontlines of a still-ongoing national child care crisis, the report found, making the return to work harder for NYC mothers who continue to bear a larger share of share of caregiving and household responsibilities, according to another report.

As is the case nationally, all of these challenges are especially felt by women of color in NYC, who are overrepresented in lower-paying industries and remain disproportionally unemployed, according to the report.

"The pandemic shined a harsh spotlight on the systemic sexism engrained deep in our economy, and then badly exacerbated it, especially for women and LGBTQ+ people of color – so it must serve as a wake-up call to take on persistent issues of gender equity in our workplaces, our homes, and our communities," said Lander.

As proposed, the leaders recommended 12 areas where the city could enact policy interventions and financial investments that enable women to thrive in the wake of the pandemic — like making child care more affordable, expanding healthcare coverage, increasing workplace protections across industries, adding resources for victims of gender-based violence, and taking steps to prevent and respond to rising violence against AAPI women, among other proposals.

The politicians said that some of these recommendations can be addressed through local legislation — like establishing universal "just cause" protections, which requires that workers be given a reason for their firing (the Council has passed a similar industry-specific law last year) — while others could be included in the currently-under-negotiation Fiscal Year 2023 budget —like cost-of-living adjustments on human service job contracts.

"This report charts the way forward with clear, viable solutions to the immense challenges we face as a city," said Cabán. "Advancing gender equity in response to the gendered impacts of COVID 19 will make this city safer and healthier for all its residents, regardless of gender."

Read the full report, "The Path Forward to a Feminist Recovery: Twelve Steps NYC Must Take To Advance Gender Equity in the Wake of the Pandemic," here.