“Pandemic recovery plans cannot simply work to bring economies back to their pre-COVID status,” said Katrina Fotovat, Senior Official in the Office of Global Women’s Issues at the U.S. Department of State. She spoke at a recent event hosted by the Wilson Center’s Maternal Health Initiative and Middle East Project in collaboration with EMD Serono, the healthcare business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, on recognizing women’s paid and unpaid work during COVID-19 recovery. Economic recovery plans must include the most undervalued industries and marginalized workers, especially women, she said.

“Nearly 70 percent of the lowest wage workers in the United States are women,” said Nicole Berner, General Counsel to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) at a recent event on the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on women and essential workers, hosted by the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership.