What I Learned From Losing My Job In 2020

Remember when 2020 was supposed to be a big year? And not big in the global-pandemic-that-forced-everyone-into-lockdown sense. For many people, 2020 was meant to be their year, whether it was to finally take that trip to Japan, sign up for a pottery class, dive back into the (draining and frankly chaotic) world of dating, or make that huge career move. 

Instead, we were faced with a devastating virus, global travel shutdowns, mandatory social-distancing, the rise of Zoom dates and… large-scale unemployment, with women leaving the workforce at alarming rates. Young women have been hit hardest: While Gen-Z women make up 2.5% of the Canadian labour force, according to a newly released report by RBC, they account for 17% of the total decline in employment during the pandemic. And BIPOC women face a greater unemployment rates than their white counterparts.

One year into the pandemic, I checked in with eight women and non-binary individuals across Canada — some of them at the cusp of their careers and some veterans of their industry — who lost their jobs to see how they're holding up and how they feel about their careers.