Pursuing Gender Equality in the Workplace During COVID-19

This resource provides recommendations and resources specific to the Canadian private sector on forwarding the pursuit of gender equality in the workplace during COVID-19. Diversity and inclusion and gender equality from the organizational perspective can be leveraged as a strength during the pandemic, allowing companies to recover faster while increasing their representation and inclusion. Some of the recommendations expanded on in the resource include:

• Assess your organization’s response to COVID-19 using the Target Gender Equality Quiz.
• Show empathy and compassion towards your employees during this time.
• Ensure all genders are represented and included in all planning and decision making.
• Adapt new measures to improve organizational culture.
• Build capacity and raise awareness.
• Be aware of unintentional harmful gender stereotypes in internal and external communications.
• Maintain a diversity lens in talent management to ensure that diversity isn’t lost.
• Support working parents, bearing in mind that the majority of unpaid care work falls on women.
• Help address the unintended consequences and challenges of stay-at-home measures, especially for vulnerable groups such as victims of domestic violence.
• Support women-owned businesses.
• Partner with government and other organizations to tackle COVID-19.