Anna Eskamani, Angie Nixon say pandemic slams women, minorities hardest

A pair of Florida House Democrats are hoping to bring more attention to the unique impacts of COVID-19 on women and minorities.

Reps. Anna Eskamani and Angie Nixon, in a Zoom call Wednesday hosted by Women’s March Jax, saw these allies talk about the kinds of structural disparities that were only heightened as the coronavirus created new norms.

Eskamani spotlighted how women uniquely have borne the brunt of the pandemic’s economics.

“Women carried the brunt of this pandemic,” Eskamani said, noting that women were often “essential workers” and “severely underpaid” for the risk they took.

Eskamani noted that tourism exemplified an industry where women had to choose between working or caring for their children amid the pandemic.

“This has created a lot of economic disparities that already existed in the space,” Eskamani added.

Nixon discussed the “broken” system regarding unemployment and re-employment, which has disparate demographic impacts.

“Unfortunately, a lot of Black and Brown folks are taking gig jobs that don’t necessarily qualify for unemployment,” Nixon noted, citing adjunct professors as an example.

“This gig economy is playing a major role in people having a tough time claiming their unemployment benefits because they don’t qualify,” Nixon said, calling for employers to provide “living wages” and “ensuring people work full time,” as well as three months of paid family leave.

Nixon noted that child care provides its own impacts. Her daughter’s day care is expected to cost $250 a week.

“We need universal day care,” Nixon said. “I can barely afford to put my daughter in day care. It’s more than my mortgage.”

Nixon also described people being “priced out of their neighborhoods” as housing prices escalate.

Eskamani agreed, saying paid family leave and universal child care are issues that “transcend party lines” and expressing hope for movement on these issues in the upcoming Legislative Session.

Eskamani also pointed out the disproportionate impact of sales tax on the working class.

“The reality is the working-class people who pay more of their income into sales tax don’t often see the benefit of it. Florida isn’t a low tax state. It’s a low benefit state,” the Central Florida Democrat declared.

Nixon discussed the “false narrative” of “people who don’t want to work” as a deliberate distraction from the breaks given to corporations regularly in the state of Florida.

“We can’t fault people because they don’t want to go back to poverty wages,” Nixon added.

The Jacksonville Democrat hopes for bipartisan cooperation on these issues, but does she think it will happen.

“Wait and see,” she advised, noting later that “everything is political.”

Real change, she added, may require a “change of our current Legislature.”

“We need to change the makeup of our Legislature, and I’ll leave it at that,” Nixon added.