Women disproportionately shoulder burdens imposed by the global COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The current study focused on how the sudden onset of the pandemic magnified existing inequalities for women in the United States. A total of 2115 participants responded to an online survey regarding pandemic-related changes to household and childcare responsibilities, employment, mental and physical health and safety, housing, worries and stress, and coping strategies. We employ an intersectionality analytical framework to understand how existing systems of oppression differentially impacted women's lived experiences during the early stages of the pandemic in the United States. Particularly, we investigated how gender, race/ethnicity, and class intersected to impact women's adaptability to the pandemic crisis. We also included motherhood status as a possible variable that may change women's pandemic-related experiences. Finally, we include women's narrative responses to provide context to their quantitative responses and to help fully represent perspectives that can often be rendered invisible. We leveraged the findings of the current investigation of the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic on women's lives to make suggestions for changes that can support women with this and future pandemics and disasters.