The year 2020 has become the year of rollbacks in gender equality in Canada and around the world. Women, particularly those with children, as well as those who are racialized, Indigenous and/or low-income, are bearing the brunt of the economic fallout from COVID-19. Our local, provincial and federal governments must enact policies to redress this inequity. If not, we stand to lose not only the progress for gender equality that has been made over the last few decades — but also our chance for a resilient pandemic recovery.

We are in the midst of one of the greatest health and economic crises in more than a century. Policymakers and business leaders are struggling to figure out how we can get the economy back on track while at the same time keeping people safe. While we once had thought that the pandemic would be the great leveler because viruses don't see wealth or gender or race, it turns out that, in fact, COVID-19 has laid bare the economic and social inequalities in our society. In Canada, the people most likely to be affected by both the economic downturn and the threat of illness are those at the bottom of the income ladder, particularly women, Indigenous people and racialized minorities.

In 2019, the Business Roundtable repudiated the primacy of the shareholder and says that corporate leaders should “deliver value” to all stakeholders. So far, though, business schools — the place where many future leaders are trained — are failing to respond meaningfully. Some schools are revamping their ethics courses or adding a social entrepreneurship track in their program. But we would be hard-pressed to find any school really reinventing itself to face up to the social crises and the appropriately increased expectations of leaders.

Discussion is turning to how we get out of the pandemic-induced recession. We believe the tragic inequities in the impacts of COVID-19 also give us insights into how to achieve a robust recovery. The pandemic has put the care economy in the spotlight, and investing in this crucial aspect of Canada's social infrastructure will be at the core of any response to the crisis. The economy will face an unnecessarily slow recovery if women who have lost their jobs, or have been forced to leave them due to caregiving duties, cannot return to paid work because of the lack of access to safe, affordable, and high-quality care.

Despite recent changes in legal protections and increasing public acceptance, trans and gender diverse people disproportionately face experiences of stigma and discrimination at work simply because of their gender identity or gender expression. And, this is particularly true for people with intersecting identities such as race, indigenity, or disability. As part of our research, we compiled current best practices for trans inclusion, both in terms of basic accommodations, such as non-discrimination protections, assisting employees with transitions, gender-inclusive facilities and forms, and more advanced inclusive practices, such as executive leadership support, inclusive recruiting, regular training, targeted allyship programs, diversity and inclusion managers, and networking with relevant community organizations.

Australia's apocalyptic bush fires make the dystopian future of "Mad Max" look tame. The World Economic Forum recently reported that it will take another 100 years to achieve gender equality at the current pace of progress. Garbage patches twice the size of Texas have accumulated in both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, wreaking havoc on ocean food chains that reach all of the way to human consumption. Corporations are implicated in it all. That isn't company bashing. It's just a reality.

As we mark International Women’s Day on Friday, many people – including us – will note that not enough progress has been made on women’s economic inclusion. Many will argue that we need to convince more corporate leaders to support the cause and, to do so, we need to make the business case for investing in diversity. Yet, despite a decade of reports from prominent consulting firms and other organizations making just this case, progress in Canada and around the world has stalled. And this very desire to make the business case might be part of the problem.

In No Place Like Home: Lessons from Activism in LGBT Kansas, C. J. Janovy offers up progressive lessons in a red state.

Building truly inclusive economies requires that leaders broaden their understanding of gender and the many different ways gender identity can affect inclusion.

Many of Canada's like-minded global partners and competitors have prioritized closing the gender wage gap as a way to achieve gender economic equality. These measures include laws that prohibit employers from asking about previous salaries, employer reporting on a number of equality metrics and requiring some form of pay transparency. Iceland's recent legislation to fine companies that did not achieve wage equality is the most recent to garner global attention. As yet, no country or jurisdiction has implemented a program that captures the full range of practices that would assure gender equality in the workplace, but Canada could be poised to set this agenda.

Our ongoing obsession with the myth of meritocracy is now spreading to education systems in developing economies with pernicious effects.

Involving men in women’s economic development projects can lead to higher impact for women and changes in gender norms.