Somerville Council Calls For State Of Emergency For Women

SOMERVILLE, MA — A resolution declaring a state of emergency for women in Somerville was passed by the City Council in late February, and the mayor's office has plans to support the advancement of local women.

The resolution, introduced by Councilor-at-Large Kristen Strezo and co-sponsored by Ward 7 Councilor Katjana Ballantyne, pointed to discrepancies in how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted men and women in Somerville.

As schools across the country switched to virtual learning, women reported cutting back hours or stepping back from their jobs entirely at a rate three times more frequently than men, and women ages 25-44 cited childcare demands as their reason for not being able to work almost three times as often as men, according to the resolution.

Women in the United States accounted for 100 percent of the job loss claims in December 2020, the resolution continued. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in January that 8.4 percent of Black women and 9.1 percent of Latina women have experienced higher job loss rates than their white female peers at 5.7 percent.

"When the post-COVID-19 pandemic recovery in the United States begins, it is unacceptable that women of all colors, creeds and immigration status in the United States and in Somerville should be subjected to return to the unpaid, underpaid, unsupported labor market with inadequate workforce support present such as before and during the COVID shutdown," the resolution states.

The resolution, which calls on the city's administration to protect "decades of female progress" that have been threatened by the pandemic, was unanimously passed Feb. 25. Mayor Joseph Curtatone's office said he will act to support female employment in Somerville.

"There will be a proclamation issued supporting women's advancement, opportunity, and equity in Somerville," a spokesperson for the mayor wrote in an email to Patch.