“Women’s work” and wellbeing: Experiences from the frontlines of the COVID-19 response
December 9, 2021 @ 12:00–1:00 pm
Zoom
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About the Talk
Women in Canada and around the world have been on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic, as responders like health care workers, paid and unpaid care workers and educators, and as essential workers in the accommodation and food services industry. While such “women’s work” has historically been undervalued and poorly recognized, the pandemic has highlighted its contributions to public health and economic stability. Less discussed are the effects of such work, often precarious and underpaid, on women’s own wellbeing. In this talk, we learn from experiences of female health care workers and immigrant women in the accommodation and food services industry in British Columbia in terms of how to better value women’s work and wellbeing.
About the Speakers
Dr. Julia Smith (she/her) is a CGSHE Faculty Member and Research Associate in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University. She has a PhD in Peace Studies from the University of Bradford, where she also completed her Masters of Arts as a Rotary World Peace Fellow. Dr. Smith’s research interests centre on gender-based policy analysis of health crises, commercial and political determinants of health, feminist theory and community-based research. She is a Principal Investigator on the Gender and COVID-19 Research Project, which is conducting gender-based analysis of the response to COVID-19 in nine countries. She volunteers with Mosaic and has worked with community-based organizations in Canada, Europe and Africa. She is @juliaheather on Twitter.
Alice Murage (she/her) is a CGSHE-Affiliate research fellow in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the Simon Fraser University. She has a master’s degree in Public Policy from Willy Brandt School of Public Policy at the University of Erfurt. Her current research focusses on COVID-19 gendered risks, impact, and policy responses in Canada and Kenya as a team member of the collaborative, multi-country Gender and COVID-19 Project, working closely with Dr. Julia Smith. Alice has worked with civil society organizations addressing gendered vulnerabilities through research, programming, and fund raising in Kenya, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Canada. She also facilitates the Africa Ancestry Project, a research and dialogue project aimed at bringing awareness to the diversity of identities and lived experiences of Black people in British Columbia. She is @AMuragz on Twitter.