As Canadians grapple with the possibility of an impending economic downturn, the public debate has understandably focused on U.S. tariffs and their devastating impact on the manufacturing sector. Steel, aluminum, copper, automobiles – protecting these and other industries and their mostly male workers from financial distress and unemployment is fundamentally important.
And yet, there are other aspects of an economic downturn that we need to bear in mind, including the devastating consequences faced by women, especially low-income and racialized women. When the Canadian economy is hurting, the pain tends to be felt acutely by the most vulnerable among us, through job loss and damaged professional trajectories, as well as mental health concerns and increasing rates of domestic violence.
That doesn’t mean we should stop speaking about the threat of tariffs on domestic manufacturing. On the contrary, it is vital that we do so. But we ought to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time – to fiercely protect jobs both in manufacturing and in sectors of the economy that are dominated by women.
A focus on these jobs matters because gendered patterns of work lead to gendered outcomes in hard economic times. During the pandemic-induced recession, for example, the negative impact on women was so dramatic it became known as a ‘she-cession.’ Food service, retail, hospitality, childcare, teaching – women’s job losses due to Covid-19 were almost twice as high as those for men (Ro). In addition, as made clear by The Prosperity Project at a recent Pearson Centre gathering, whenever women are pushed out of the professional pipeline, their ability ultimately to reach senior positions in the workforce is seriously damaged (“2024 Annual Report Card”).
Despite this evidence, when their work is threatened or eliminated, women – low-income and racialized women in particular – do not attract much attention from Canada’s political heavy-weights. On the campaign trail earlier this year, politicians of all stripes offered up a steady stream of photo-ops and speeches at manufacturing plants, against a backdrop of men (and the occasional woman) in hard hats. Press conferences by leading politicians surrounded by grocery-store employees, retail clerks, or health care workers were notably absent.
Moreover, the negative consequences of an economic downturn for women extend far beyond job losses. Significantly, rates of intimate partner violence (IPV) tend to increase in times of economic hardship, and women are disproportionately the victims of such violence. Social isolation is one of the main risk factors leading to IPV, a trend borne out during the Covid pandemic. That pattern was abundantly clear in Canada, as IPV shelters saw a dramatic increase in demand for services. In the first year of the pandemic, one in three (34%) facilities reported being impacted to a great extent by the pandemic, while more than four in ten (44%) were impacted to a moderate extent (StatsCan).
Increased levels of IPV were not unique to the pandemic. In an exhaustive study of such violence during the Great Recession of 2008, a team of Sociologists found that “unemployment and economic hardship at the household level were positively related to abusive behavior,” and that the percentage of “violent or controlling marriages” increased by 33% in that period. Job losses by men appeared to be a contributing factor; male unemployment increased stress and undermined their feelings of control and economic security, creating an urge to exert greater control over their partners. These findings are in line with research dating back to the Great Depression showing that “times of economic upheaval are also times of family upheaval” (Schneider et al). A recent op-ed by Aline Nizigama, YWCA Canada, and Anuradha Dugal, Women’s Shelters Canada, said it best: “Women’s Safety is Economic Policy.” In 2024, the Canadian Femicide Observatory reported that 187 women and girls were killed in acts of IPV – a 26% increase since 2018 (Dugal). Additionally, a recent CBC article about the increase in intimate partner violence in rural Eastern Ontario shared that “Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) say reports of intimate partner violence were up by 18.1 per cent in Ontario, with 6,289 victims in 2024 compared to 5,326 in 2023. And that was 13.5 per cent higher than in 2022. Statistics released July 7 by the Ottawa Police Service show a nine per cent rise in reports in the past six months” (Ireton). Despite these grim trends and statistics, the potential impact on women of the looming economic downturn has scarcely been mentioned in Canada’s public debate.
What, then, is to be done? The solutions are not obvious or easy, but two things are clear. First, in developing a national strategy to cope with the effects of tariffs and economic pain, we must look beyond the significant impact on jobs in manufacturing and seek to protect jobs in those commonly overlooked sectors where women are over-represented. In a recession all these sectors will suffer job losses, and the result will be devastating, for women and for Canadian society as a whole. Second, in the face of expected job losses and budget reductions, we need to be vigilant in protecting – even increasing funding for – those government services that women and other vulnerable groups will need more than ever, including affordable childcare, women’s shelters and IPV prevention programs. If we fail on these two fronts, the consequences of an economic downturn will be far more grave and far-reaching than they need to be.
Pam Damoff, CEO, Pearson Centre
Sofia Robinson, Research Assistant, Pearson Centre
Works Cited
“2024 Annual Report Card on Gender Equity and Leadership.” [“Rapport annuel de rendement 2024.”] The Prosperity Project , The Prosperity Project , 2024.
Dugal, Anuradha, and Aline Nizigama. “Women’s Safety Is Economic Policy-What Our next Government Must Do Now: YWCA Canada.” What’s New, YWCA Canada, 22 May 2025.
Ireton, Julie. “Police Data Shows Intimate Partner Violence Calls on the Rise in Ontario | CBC News.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, 15 July 2025.
Ro, Christine. “Why This Recession Disproportionately Affects Women.” BBC News, BBC, 26 Oct. 2020.
Schneider, Daniel, et al. “Intimate Partner Violence in the Great Recession.” Demography, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Apr. 2016.
Statistics Canada. “Many Shelters for Victims of Abuse See Increases in Crisis Calls and Demand for External Supports in the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic.” The Daily , Government of Canada, 12 Apr. 2022.