As the world grapples with the global pandemic, the disparity between those who have been hit hardest financially continues to grow. Contrary to the narrative that “everything will be fine,” women of all ethnicities, especially women of color and Latinx, have borne the brunt of the economic fallout, resulting in a “she-cession.”

In the United States, according to the monthly report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 865,000 women were forced to leave their jobs in September alone, compared to 216,000 men. Mothers, to care for their children, have had to reduce their working hours four to five times more than fathers. Women of color, who mostly support their families on their own, with low incomes, are suffering greatly from the situation.

In September, according to data from the National Women’s Law Center, while white women had an unemployment rate of 6.9% and white men had an unemployment rate of 6.5%, Black and Latino women had an unemployment rate of 11.1% and 11%.

Brands are recognizing the problem and are launching several initiatives to provide new jobs to this particular segment of the population. By providing some opportunities for consumers to interact with brands, many companies are shifting their investments from traditional experience activations to those driven by a brand purpose, such as scholarships, job training, and educational programming for students, to help communities recover.

Many companies are shifting their investments from traditional experience activations to experiences driven by a brand purpose.

One of the largest initiatives in this regard is Unilever’s United for America campaign, “a movement that unites business partners and non-profits to help the most affected communities recover.” In the second phase of the campaign, Unilever is investing $5 million in 10 cities for women- and student-only initiatives. Unilever also partnered with Luminary to provide 250 scholarships for women entrepreneurs impacted by the crisis, with 79% awarded to women of color, with the goal of “helping their businesses across America weather the economic impact of COVID-19, recover, rebuild and reimagine their futures.”

Unilever is also partnering with retailers, including HEB in Houston, Dollar General in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Vons in Los Angeles, to provide computers and data plans to help bridge the education gap for students who cannot afford remote learning resources. Unilever and retailers will also support the Boys & Girls Club and other community organizations in several cities to provide in-person education programs, school supplies, and other technology resources for students.

It is truly a light of hope to see major brands supporting the needs so deeply felt by the population

To help the campaign, Unilever has obtained the support of 96 entities: companies, media and marketing agencies, law firms, and transport, including Interpublic, VaynerX, Pinterest, SiriusXM, Meredith, Conde Nast, Edelman, Loeb & Loeb, and J.B. Hunt Transport.

While it is important to underline that the problems discussed in this article were present well before the arrival of the pandemic and that they will not be solved by its end, it is truly a light of hope to see major brands supporting those values ​​so deeply felt by the population. We can only hope that initiatives of this magnitude will not disappear with the appearance of the vaccine, and that we can continue to take up challenges to solve the problems that the “she-cession” has brought even more to light, returning to a normality that is however able to include greater equality.