2020-05-29
Today's ABS Household data survey provides further confirmation that the impacts of COVID crisis are falling disproportionately to women. The Greens are calling on the National Cabinet to ensure that addressing these disparities is at the forefront of any recovery plans.
The ABS results reveal that women are almost three times as likely as men to have looked after their children full-time on their own during the crisis.
The ABS results also confirm reliance on unpaid care work, with one in eight adults taking on additional caring responsibilities for a vulnerable person outside their household because of Covid-19.
Greens Senate Leader and Spokesperson on Women, Senator Larissa Waters, said:
"The health and economic crisis highlights the unequal burden of unpaid care work that has long been carried by women. As we plan our recovery, we must look at better ways to acknowledge the value of care work and give families more options to fairly distribute caring responsibilities.
"Universal free childcare and more flexible workplace arrangements are an essential part of that."
"The government must invest in recovery in ways that address gender inequality"
Read the ABS' Household Impacts of COVID-19 Survey here:
https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4940.0