A new report says the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated economic disparities and safety concerns for women in New Hampshire.
The report, published by the New Hampshire Women’s Foundation, says the state’s domestic violence shelters and sexual violence organizations saw increased demand. Additionally, hotline centers saw a 15% uptick in calls in 2020 and 2021 compared to 2018 and 2019. Women represented 92% of the clients at local crisis centers between Oct. 2020 and Sept. 2021.
The report also says more people sought shelter at domestic sexual violence crisis centers, and people were staying at those shelters for longer periods of time.
Unemployment data gathered during the pandemic also shows stark gender disparities, according to the report. When New Hampshire was under a state of emergency, New Hampshire Women’s Foundation CEO Tanna Clews said their analysis found that a majority of all unemployment claims from the state were made by women.
According to Clews, the lack of childcare options as schools shifted to remote learning and daycares closed due to social distancing protocol widened what experts refer to as the “motherhood wage penalty.”
“When those child care centers closed down, when schools closed suddenly, you saw a dramatic increase in women’s unemployment as a result of them needing to be home to take care of their children,” she said. “This has been a long time coming.”
The report also notes that New Hampshire lost 42 childcare centers since 2019, which cut 1,459 slots for childcare statewide.
