As the COVID-19 pandemic has dominated conversation globally, healthcare advocacy groups find themselves in a battle for public attention in order to represent their patients’ time-sensitive interests.
The social impact sector is largely made up of women workers — women make up 80 percent of the non-profit workforce alone. Many of these women, like the author of this essay, take on a disproportionate share of caregiving for family members. To be more resilient, the sector will need to better support and accommodate caregivers, and that starts with understanding their experiences.
Caregivers must choose between taking care of their loved ones and showing up to work — and the latter has a far greater capacity for flexibility. In order to prevent burnout, companies will need to be far more aware of their employees’ out-of-work responsibilities.
Older Canadians and youth are two of the demographics who’ve suffered the most throughout the pandemic. Experts in intergenerational connection say key to community recovery will be building connection across age groups, but it won’t be easy.
