As the long-neglected ship of our public services collides with the colossal COVID-19 iceberg, the captains are throwing the women and children overboard.
The impact of the pandemic has taken a huge and very predictable toll on the most disadvantaged in society. In place of a social safety net, we’ve got a shrinking flotilla of leaky lifeboats. As the crisis continues to unfold, it becomes ever clearer that we need to construct secure foundations on which everyone can build a meaningful life.
More men have died from COVID-19 in the UK than women, but on nearly every other metric women have done worse: employment, mental health, unpaid care work, domestic abuse. People of colour have died at shockingly higher rates and are far more exposed to the health and economic risks associated with lockdown. For the young in society, the patchy provision of education, lack of internet and computer access, interrupted social development, soaring unemployment and child poverty all paint a bleak picture.
