Media Round-Up: May 2020

In The Atlantic, ‘You Should Politicize the Coronavirus,’  Helen Lewis writes

“Post-crash austerity fell harder on women, who tended to pick up the slack from cuts to children’s services and care for the elderly, damaging their earning potential as a result. In Britain today, women make up the majority of low earners, according to the Women’s Budget Group, an independent think tank. Nearly half of single parents, nine out of 10 of whom are mothers, are living in poverty.”

Other Coverage:

• iNews,  ‘Coronavirus pandemic risks making gender pay gap worse, warns anti-poverty charity’
  Serina Sandhu, 4th May 2020:  “It can’t be right that over 40 per cent of lone parents and their children will be living on less than £500 a month,” said Dr Mary-Ann Stephenson, director at UK Women’s Budget Group.Too many women are still falling through gaps in the social security safety net. The Government has shown unprecedented agility within the social security system so far, but it needs to do more both to meet urgent needs in the short term and to ensure that this crisis doesn’t further widen pre-existing inequalities.”
• LocalGov, ‘Migrant women left unsupported during crisis, report warns’, Laura Sharman, 5th May 2020: “Migrant Women and the Economy warns that despite being disproportionately represented in ‘key worker’ occupations, most migrant women have no recourse to public funds. Published by the Women’s Budget Group and Coventry Women’s Partnership, the report finds that migrants can be left with no rights to social security or vital services if they are unable to work because of Covid-19.”
• Independent, ‘Coronavirus: Carers facing ‘growing poverty crisis’ during pandemic, MPs warned’, May Bulman, 6th May 2020
• Guardian, ‘Half of UK parents with young children face money woes – survey’Alexandra Topping, 7th May 2020
• Independent, ‘PARENTS WITH YOUNG CHILDREN ‘STRUGGLING TO MAKE ENDS MEET’ AMID PANDEMIC’Matt Mathers, 7th May  2020: “Mary-Ann Stephenson, director of the Women’s Budget Group, says the pandemic has “magnified existing inequalties” between men and women and called on the government to do more to tackle the gender pay gap.

“Covid-19 has magnified existing inequalities. Before this crisis women were more likely to be low paid, more likely to be poor and more likely to get into debt to buy basic necessities,” she said.”

• Open Democracy, ‘It’s time to talk about a feminist green new deal’, Sherilyn Macgregor, 20th May 2020
• iNews, ‘It’s totally overwhelming’: Lockdown diary of a single mum of three living on Universal Credit’, Marisa Bate, 22nd May 2020
• Guardian,‘Care workers should be better paid and valued after Covid-19 – poll’, Alexandra Topping, 26th May 2020
• Guardian, ‘Poverty and debt driving young women to self-harm – survey’,Denis Campbell, 30th April 2020