WHEREAS, the COVID–19 crisis has exacerbated existing vulnerabilities for women and girls and has an outsized effect on health, safety, and livelihoods for marginalized communities; AND

WHEREAS, prejudices against gender and race have served to make it difficult for women to fill roles demanded by society and their professions, and discrimination on the basis of race, ethnic background, gender, sexual orientation, age and disability continues to exist in employment and educational settings, despite years of effort to eliminate it; AND

WHEREAS, necessary lockdowns, quarantines, school closures, and other movement restrictions related to COVID–19 have disrupted access to legal and social services, as well as access to counseling, safe shelters, medical treatment, education, and skills building programs exacerbating vulnerabilities for women and girls; AND

WHEREAS, gender-based violence, such as domestic violence, child abandonment, and sex trafficking has increased, and is expected to continue to increase, and the self-image and general mental health of countless numbers of women and their concern for family members have been damaged as a result of the COVID–19; AND

WHEREAS, women play significant roles in the healthcare workforce, comprising 70% of health care workers Massachusetts, and perform 3 times the amount of unpaid care work in homes and communities, and women between the ages of 18 and 34 are the largest demographic living in poverty in Massachusetts- with 12.3% of Latinx, 7% of Black, and 6.7% of Asian women living in poverty- and economic, financial, and food insecurity have increased during the pandemic.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Massachusetts House of Representatives hereby recognizes the importance of the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women’s recommendations, which include gender balance in bodies responsible for decision making related to COVID–19; integrating a gender lens tracking the effect of and response to the crisis on gender; measures to ensure that life-saving health services including sexual and reproductive health and gender-based violence prevention and response; measures for adequate food and nutrition security for women and girls; short-term relief programming and long-term economic strategies address the effects of COVID–19 on women; robust Federal funding contributions to the COVID–19 crisis; addressing barriers to equitable COVID–19 treatment and vaccine access for women, girls, and marginalized communities; and research on all women of color across the Commonwealth including women who are not easily accessible through technology; and be it further

RESOLVED, that a copy of these resolutions be forwarded by the Clerk of the House of Representatives to the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women.