The Impact of COVID-19 on Women of Color

 As the coronavirus spike in numbers, businesses shut down their day to day activities and encourage employees to work at home. However, working from home is not idealistic for everyone. For medical and health professionals, hospitality and service workers, business resumes as usual. Well, sort of. A close acquaintance who works in radiology at a local hospital explained that she must go to work. The hospital is one place that is booming in business during this time of global constraint. She feels that every time she’s at work, she’s at risk of being exposed to the coronavirus.

“Sure, lots of people are wearing masks at work, but it only stops a person from spreading the disease,” she says.

She’s correct in stating so. The mask can do some good. However, in a Times article, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) explains, “ …surgical masks won’t stop the wearer from inhaling small airborne particles, which can cause infection. Nor do these masks form a snug seal around the face.” 

For those already showing symptoms of the coronavirus, The CDC recommends wearing surgical masks. To prevent the spreading of the virus, wearing a mask can help protect others nearby when you cough or sneeze.[i]

While this acquaintance has secure employment but is worried about her health, another acquaintance complains about her income. She works for a car delivery service, yet the business has slowed down by 50 percent since the company’s clientele are international, and their contracts are with various corporations. Many of these companies have decided to let their employees work from home. The other day she explained that there is no business at all and worries about paying her rent.

For women of color, the odds of being at risk throughout the coronavirus scare is at large since they comprise 33 percent of the female workforce–some working from paycheck to paycheck and are twice as likely as white women to be employed in lower-wage sectors such as the service industry.[ii] 

Also, women of color suffer from the most significant pay gaps than any other group of workers. Many cannot afford to lose a day of work because the consequence can mean losing the roof over the heads.

While medical and health care staff seem to have secure employment, they are undergoing the risk of being exposed even if all necessary precautions are being taken to remain sanitary. Women of color comprise twenty-two percent of the entry-level jobs in the healthcare industry.[iii] According to the 2013 Breaking Down Barriers for Women Physicians of Color, they also make up 11.7 percent of active M.D. physicians.[iv] Those who only risk exposure may only be half as lucky. Many U.S. female health care workers, particularly women of color, live in poverty, and lack health insurance.[v] Close to 50 percent of black and Latina female health care workers earn less than $15 per hour, and 10 percent lack health insurance according to the 2017 Annual Social and Economic Supplement to the Current Population Survey.

As the leaders of the country determine the next move; hopefully, they are thinking in terms of equity. Initiatives that propose making sure American workers have paid sick, and family leave may help. It does very little to benefit women of color American workers who work jobs that don’t even dole out employee benefits. 

Women of color are a prideful, hardworking demographic that often prioritize others first. At work, they are more likely to work longer hours for less pay than their counterparts.[vi]

They should be at the core of our decision-making when attempting to help alleviate the worries of Americans throughout this global epidemic. Our leaders should be thinking about measures such as issuing emergency food stamps that would allow people to purchase some of their food online, providing temporary free medical screenings, and putting a freeze on some bill payments. The call-to-action proposed is the least we can do. It is not a radical way of rectifying this issue but a human response and business case to protect vital breadwinners, taxpayers, consumers, and significant contributors to American society.

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Julene Allen is CEO of the new brand Women of Color in the Workplace? and a LeanIn.Org regional leader. As a Lean In leader, she founded the program, Lean In Women of Color. After leaving her job as an insurance underwriter several years ago, where she experienced isolation and bullying, Julene vowed never to work for a company that did not treat her with dignity and respect again. As a small business owner, over the years, Julene has worked on various women’s rights campaigns and spends a bulk of her time interviewing women in top leadership, spearheading equal pay campaigns, researching, writing, and creating resources for women of color professionals. She has recently pledged to teach companies how to take their DEI mission to the next level.

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Respond to the Women of Color in the Workplace? study, which explores the experiences of women of color at work by visiting www.womenofcolorintheworkplace.com.

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[i] Oaklander, M. (2020, March 4). Why People Aren't Listening to Experts About Face Masks. Retrieved from https://time.com/5794729/coronavirus-face-masks/

[ii] Kerby, S. (2012, July 17). The State of Women of Color in the United States. Retrieved March 17, 2020, from https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/reports/2012/07/17/11923/the-state-of-women-of-color-in-the-united-states/

[iii] Berlin, G., Darino, L., Greenfield, M., & Strarikova, I. (2019, June). Women in the healthcare industry. Retrieved March 17, 2020, from https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare-systems-and-services/our-insights/women-in-the-healthcare-industry

[iv] Galace, A., & Calimlim, I. (2017, October). pdf.

[v] Many Female Health Care Workers Live in Poverty. (2019, February 26). Retrieved March 17, 2020, from https://www.dermatologyadvisor.com/home/topics/practice-management/many-female-health-care-workers-live-in-poverty/.

[vi] Fisher, M. (2015, April 14). Women of Color and the Gender Wage Gap. Retrieved March 17, 2020, from https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/reports/2015/04/14/110962/women-of-color-and-the-gender-wage-gap/