As a member of many business networking groups, I hear many stories of how Covid-19 has affected people and businesses.
Of course, we all know of the industries that have suffered greatly during this time in particular hospitality and travel. Not to mention there has been great concerns for the mental health of individuals.
Interestingly and not surprising, the perception of the effects of Covid on businesses and individuals has differed among various groups.
In general, Covid-19 hasn’t been great for the economy with many businesses forced to close indefinitely due to lockdowns or closing down altogether as they haven’t been able to weather the economic impacts of the virus.
So, how about the effects on individuals? There’s no question that individuals, both male and female have been impacted. So, I was surprised to hear from a member of one of my networking groups that she had been approached by someone wanting to write an article for her about how Covid-19 has impacted women in business more than men. She even gave it a term which I won’t even bother repeating.
My self and quite a few members of the group had a problem with this. First and foremost, everyone has been impacted by Covid-19, men and women. I’ll admit there are probably more women than men that have had to juggle their work with their children’s home learning so that does add a bit more of a strain. But to imply that women are impacted more in an employment or financial capacity than men seems a little sexist and just not right. Job losses or financial insecurity, in my opinion haven’t discriminated.
The other issue quite a few of us had with this type of article, was the negativity towards females. For so long, women have wanted to be thought of as equal to men and all of a sudden, this article was going to paint a picture of women as the poor victims of a pandemic. It was my opinion, and many agreed that we should be supporting each other and promoting positivity.
On the upside, a lot of the members of this particular networking group are females and self-employed. A majority have actually reported they have never been busier.
During these times, some have had it tougher than others but I don’t think you can draw a line between the genders and pronounce one worse off than the other. We’re all in this together.