The diverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are deeply rooted in pre-existing socio-economic inequalities based on race, gender, ability, income, wages, health, housing, etc. Due to all these factors, racialized people are hit the hardest by this pandemic, in particular women. For racialized women, the challenges of COVID-19 may be acutely felt as they are more likely to be underpaid and/or excluded entirely from the paid workforce than other groups.

This is the third fact sheet from the Women and COVID-19 series. Using feminist intersectional analysis, this fact sheet explores the experiences of racialized women during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, specifically in relation to barriers to employment for racialized women and the precarity of the labour market, their overrepresentation in the care economy, as well as poverty and housing.