Gender Discrimination

There is a new feature to the pandemic-induced recession that has decimated employment, manufacturing, child care, education, and just about every other facet of life. It is women, not men who are the most greatly affected by the force of the shutdown.

This week, the New York Times reports that the temporary setbacks to gender parity in the workplace are in danger of being close to permanent, leaving a whole generation of women behind their male cohort in the workplace. There has been a decade of fragile progress since the Great Recession, and in February, women represented a majority of civilian, non-farm workers employed in the country.

This week, the Center for American Progress released a new report titled “Valuing Women’s Caregiving During and After the Coronavirus Crisis” which highlights the need to support caregivers during the crisis, but also to think about medium- and long-term strategies to ensure that this does not result in a long-term crisis within childcare.

Just as the coronavirus itself has not affected the general population proportionally, its economic consequences haven't either.

Mounting research demonstrates that child care providers are facing a serious crisis, which will have long term implications for women’s rights and the workforce.

COVID-19 has exposed many of our society’s underlying problems. And with these concerns, a particular demographic has been disproportionately affected -- women.

There currently is no scientific evidence that COVID-19 creates an increased risk for adverse outcomes for pregnant women. That said, pregnant women may be more susceptible to respiratory infections, including COVID-19, and should practice precautions.

Pay transparency can effectively mitigate salary discrepancies based on race and gender, especially considering that women and minorities are often at the lower end of the pay grade. While publicizing each individual employee’s salary may create unnecessary animosity, reporting pay bands could be a favorable method of promoting a culture of transparency.

Two lawsuits were filed against Frontier airlines alleging that the Company required pregnant employees to suspend work duties months before they were scheduled to give birth, forcing employees to use their vacation days in lieu of paid time off, take unpaid maternity leave without Frontier providing alternatives for work, and refuse to accommodate breastfeeding and pregnant workers.

New York State and New York City Laws create rights and obligations to allow people to access bathrooms that match their gender identity.

Learn more about new protections for employees in New York State relating to equal pay.