We Have To Stay Strong During this Pandemic

We’re reminded this week how important it is to maintain our sense of community, our commitment to social justice and our determination to advance our shared, intersectional feminist agenda, especially as we struggle through this coronavirus pandemic.  

As we well know the coronavirus pandemic has had a disproportionately deadly impact on the Black community, especially Black women. This health disparity is not new and this pandemic, as well as the structural discrimination, they are rooted in has made it even more apparent.   

We are mindful of the challenges Native American women are facing during the coronavirus pandemic, and this article explores How Cherokee Women Navigate COVID-19.  It’s part of the “Coronavirus Storytelling Project” from Oklahoma Watch, which practices “impact journalism in the public interest.”  We’ve never needed vigorous, bold local journalism more than we do today.  I hope when this is all over that news reporting regains some of its strength that has been lost in recent years.  

We also must keep the spotlight on the challenge of building workplaces that work for women.  Since 1962, the global nonprofit Catalyst has provided pioneering research, practical tools and proven solutions to help organizations accelerate progress for women at work.  I commend to you their new report, Covid-19:  Women, Equity, and Inclusion in the Future of Work, and also, their groundbreaking findings on the toll of exclusionary work climates on the well-being of Black professionals, “Emotional Tax:  How Black Women and Men Pay More at Work and How Leaders Can Take Action.” 

The pandemic is taking its toll on older female employees everywhere, as this article from the National Law Review explains.  “Between March and April,” the author writes, “the unemployment rate for women age 55 and over catapulted from 3.3% to 15.5%, the largest increase reported by the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.” 

Did you see the news that New Zealand has eliminated the coronavirus?  I’ve written to you before about my admiration for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, and the other women leaders on the global stage who are making such a profound difference in these difficult times.  Here’s another look at them, from the “know your value” project of NBC News. 

And speaking of politics closer to home, Ms. Magazine published this report on the historic gains for women, particularly women of color, in the “Super Tuesday” June primary elections. 

Finally, my weekly message to you wouldn’t be complete without an uplifting music video.  Here’s one from a few years back that still makes me smile, from “Where the Heck is Matt?” who says “I travel all around the world dancing badly with people.”