10-24-2021 Women to Watch - Flipbook - Page 40
Jasmine Norton, 33, opened The Urban Burger Bar in the Whitehall Market in December 2020,
in the midst of the pandemic. PHOTO BY AMY DAVIS
Working women support one another,
find new passions during pandemic
FORGING A
NEW PATH
By Hallie Miller and Lizzy Lawrence
A
mber Daley, 33 and a mother of four,
needed to take a step back. She worked at
the University of Maryland Shock Trauma
Center in Baltimore, coordinating transfers of patients in critical condition. The stress of the job,
coupled with the fear of spreading the coronavirus, proved to be too much, and even though
money was tight, the Arbutus woman left her job
in November.
“I found work was starting to affect my home life,”
Daley said. “I just wasn’t happy. I was irritable all the
time.”
The pandemic has been devastating for women in
the workplace. A net 2.4 million women dropped out
of the workforce between February 2020 and Febru40
WO M E N T O WAT C H
l
2021
ary 2021, according to the Pew Research Center. Black
and Latina women were impacted disproportionately, accounting for 46% of the total decrease despite
making up less than a third of the U.S. population.
The pandemic laid bare the untold burdens women face, particularly the difficult balance of work and
child care. Over the last year and a half, many women
in the Baltimore area have mastered the art of pivoting after being forced to reexamine their working
lives.
Supporting one another
Danielle Vinson, 43, and Gia Johnson, 54, are
both leaders of the Facebook group, “Mothers Helping Mothers … For Baltimore Maryland and county
women only.” Vinson started the page five years ago,
citing her desire to connect women with the resources they need.
Vinson said she saw more mothers posting during
the pandemic about food insecurity, and so the group
coordinated meal drives. Others offered tutoring and
babysitting services, or new clothes — something
Daley took advantage of, as all four of her kids went
through growth spurts mid-pandemic.
“We’re trying to get women to stop bashing each
other and come together as one,” said Vinson, of Park
Heights.
Johnson said a major problem for women in the
area was losing their jobs after contracting the coronavirus. The West Baltimore woman saw numerous