Dear Editor,
The COVID pandemic is affecting many communities but it is hitting women particularly hard. Over 805,000 women have left the workforce to take care of their remote learning children. Countless other women who are still employed fear that they will be punished for taking time off to care for sick children or family members.
How do we handle this crisis as a society? First, we must have protections for working parents (men and women) in the form of paid family leave. To not provide a program that covers your paycheck while you are on leave to take care of a loved one during a pandemic is near-criminal.
Second, we need to ensure that these jobs are available for women to return to once we are on the other side of COVID. We must insist on programs targeted toward women workers that make sure they keep the skills they have and that protects the seniority they have earned in the workplace.
Most often women are the caretakers of families. In these chaotic times, no one expects anything less than putting their families first. We must ensure that when these women return to work, we will take care of them.
NH State Rep. Wendy Thomas
Merrimack, NH
