Women on the Front Lines
From health care to home care, restaurants to grocery stores, women workers, low-paid workers, and women of color are on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.
These are unprecedented times. This global pandemic has forced schools to close, businesses to shutter, and people to quarantine. Gender, racial, and economic inequities that already existed in the United States are becoming magnified as we weather the twin health and economic crises facing the United States and the world.
Women workers are on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19. Nearly 80 percent of healthcare workers and 83 percent of workers who provide social assistance, including child care and emergency services, are women. And women-dominated occupations, such as nurses, flight attendants, and personal care aides, are among the most vulnerable to getting sick and spreading it to others.
Women are also in the position to suffer the most in an economic recession. Even in good times, women are the most economically vulnerable, comprising nearly 60 percent of workers in low-wage occupations. Low-paid women workers have very little in the way of savings, which means it is much harder for them to weather economic shocks, especially when they are likely to be supporting a number of dependents.
Take action below to help protect vulnerable workers, learn what is at stake for women during the COVID crisis and imminent recession, and read the stories of women on the front lines.

How COVID-19 Has Disproportionately Affected the Mental Health of Women and BIPOC Workers

2020 Year In Review

TIME’S UP Survey Shows Outsized Impact of COVID-19 on Women’s Mental Health

Women Dropping Out of Labor Force at Alarming Rate

August Jobs Report: Recovery is Slowing Down, Especially for Women

July Jobs Report: A Women’s Recession

Forbes: ‘I Am Tired’: What Black Doctors Need You To Know Right Now

May Jobs Report: A Case Study in Pervasive Racism and Sexism

STAT: My nightmare: Covid-19 meets racism meets the killing of a Black person by police

Fast Company Exclusive: Time’s Up releases guide to prioritizing diversity during COVID-19

Vox: The economic crisis exacerbates how much we undervalue women’s work

April Jobs Report: Women Are Bearing the Brunt of the Economic Crisis

Washington Post: How rethinking caregiving could play a crucial role in restarting the economy

Harvard Business Review: Why the Crisis Is Putting Companies at Risk of Losing Female Talent

The New York Times: I Never Planned to Be a Front-Line Worker at Dollar General

Essence: What Black Doctors And Nurses Want You To Know About COVID-19

The New York Times: How Millions of Women Became the Most Essential Workers in America

The New Yorker: “Some Days I Feel Like I’m Melting”: How Single Mothers in New York City Are Coping with Quarantine

On the Front Lines of Economic Pain: March Jobs Report Foreshadows What’s to Come

Know Your Rights: Get the Facts About Paid Leave

InStyle: Young Women’s Careers May Never Recover from the Coronavirus Crisis

Fortune: During the coronavirus crisis, equal pay is more important than ever

#TIMESUPPAYUP: Your Pay Gap Stories

Slate: How Racial Health Disparities Will Play Out in the Pandemic

Associated Press: Farmworkers key to keeping US fed are wary of virus spread

The New York Times: ‘It’s a Wreck’: 3.3 Million File Unemployment Claims as Economy Comes Apart

The New York Times: Voices From Travel’s Frontlines: ‘Fasten Your Seatbelts’

The New York Times: Nurses Share Coronavirus Stories Anonymously in an Online Document

NBC News: About 4 in 10 Latinos in New York City have lost their jobs because of coronavirus

The New York Times: What I Learned When My Husband Got Sick With Coronavirus

CNBC: Why some women may take an extra financial hit from the coronavirus pandemic

NBC News: Gender economist Katica Roy: If we don’t act fast, women will bear the brunt of the financial crisis caused by coronavirus

The New York Times: She Had to Choose: Her Epileptic Patient or Her 7-Year-Old Daughter

Washington Post: Working from home reveals another fault line in America’s racial and educational divide

Marie Claire: COVID-19 Exposes the Dangers of Gender Inequality

The New York Times: ‘I Feel Like I Have Five Jobs’: Moms Navigate the Pandemic

CNN: Amazon warehouse workers fear catching coronavirus just to get you your packages

Vogue: “They Ignored the Warning Signs”: A New York City ER Doctor Explains What She’s Up Against

MSNBC: Health care workers on their own against coronavirus as supplies dwindle

The New York Times: They Clean the Buildings Workers Are Fleeing. But Who’s Protecting Them?

NowThis: Women Health Care Workers Are At The Front Lines of COVID-19
