Women’s Funds Release COVID-19’s Impact on Women in Northeast Wisconsin Study

The Fond du Lac Area Women’s Fund, Women’s Fund of Greater Green Bay, Women’s Fund for the Fox Valley Region and Women’s Fund of the Oshkosh Area Community Foundation have collaborated to produce COVID-19’s Impact on Women in Northeast Wisconsin Study.

The report is based on the response of 1,050 women from the northeast region of Wisconsin to an online survey from March 16 to April 27, 2021. The research was led by a team at the Strategic Research Institute at St. Norbert College. The purpose of this study was to measure and assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on lives of women in Northeast Wisconsin.

Specific focus areas of the study included:

Employment and income
Ability to pay rent/mortgage
Child care responsibilities
Children and schooling
Post-secondary education
Mental health
Hostility and violence

Key findings from the report:

Faced with the sudden loss of child care and schooling, the COVID-19 shutdown contributed to an increased responsibility burden for working women in Northeast Wisconsin since women were more frequently responsible for the direct supervision of their children and coordinating at-home and online schooling.
Working women who care for children experienced increased rates of poor mental health and stress during the pandemic due to the significant time spent doing unpaid care work and challenges at work due to time constraints.
The pandemic exacerbated long-established disparities in violence against women in some instances. Those that reported violence, experienced more frequent abuse during the pandemic.
Daily stress increased during the pandemic. Most women expressed confidence that daily stress will drop after the pandemic but not to pre-pandemic levels.
Lower-income and unpartnered women in Northeast Wisconsin experienced unique challenges citing less flexible work schedules and higher rates of furlough compared to other women, along with more child care and school responsibilities.

This collective study and interactive dashboard are made possible through a grant from the Basic Needs Giving Partnership, a collaboration between the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation, the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region, the Oshkosh Area Community Foundation, U.S. Venture, and the J.J. Keller Foundation.

Click Here For Interactive Dashboard

Download Full Report

Survey Findings Video