Media Round-Up: May 2020

The Atlantic
You Should Politicize the Coronavirus
Helen Lewis, 1st May 2020

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.

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

Joint Letter

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