COVID Lesson #2

Actually, I’m pulling not just one but three COVID lessons from this article, a worthwhile read:

• “Essential workers” tend to be women because they dominate the

caring professions

— and they get paid shit. (This we knew already, right? But it was the pandemic that revealed that we couldn’t live without the services of child and elder care providers, teachers, social workers, grocery store cashiers, etc., many of whom do not make a living wage.)

• Major social justice legislation can be enacted even during a pandemic.

• I want to move to New Zealand.

Just a quick note so you read the article rather than this blog post: The U.S. has been focusing on — and failing at achieving — pay equality, or equal pay for women who do the same job as men, rather than on pay equity, or equal pay for people who use the same types of skills across jobs. The latter is the way to go. It’s the way New Zealand has gone.

What an amazing exercise for this country to consider the value of the skills elementary school, high school, and especially early childhood educators — pre-school teachers and child care providers — bring to bear on their jobs! Might these essential workers deserve a 30% pay increase the way New Zealand social workers have? Maybe even more?