FREDERICTON – Green Party leader and MLA for Fredericton-South David Coon issued a statement today, in recognition of International Women’s Day:

“Today is International Women’s Day.

This year, I want to recognize the importance of women on the frontlines of the pandemic. Women are the pillars of our care system, whether in healthcare, special care and nursing homes, home care, transition houses, and daycares. Not to mention the vast amount of unpaid care work that women have disproportionately taken on during the pandemic, often while continuing to work their regular jobs. 

Care work, whether paid or unpaid, must be recognized and valued. 

The retail sector is also dominated by woman workers, facing the fears and anxiety of the pandemic head on, without the luxury of being behind a Zoom screen. 

Words of recognition are nice, but wouldn’t it be even better if we could honour the work of women on the frontlines of the pandemic by ensuring that they are paid fairly for their work?  We need to recognize that many woman-dominated fields remain sorely underpaid.

Let’s work to make sure that by the next International Women’s Day, women working in our care sector are fairly paid.”