Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic created a historic disruption to contemporary society including how, where and when we work. Given the ubiquity of human capital, most if not every society was crippled by the displacement of the workforce with historic impacts on productivity; GDP in the UK will be at its lowest in 300 years, requiring the largest peacetime debt accumulation in history . Stimulus packages occurred in many countries as a result of the inability to access the workplace, particularly school, restaurant or travel. Airline travel in the US fell by a precipitous 93% at its nadir, the cruise industry collapsed and trans-national crossing all but ceased to exist. Along with the freeze in people movement, supply chains were disrupted including components necessary for both treatment and vaccination. The shrinkage of the world we had grown up with became the catalyst for the first pandemic in a century. Almost every citizen of the world has been impacted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In many cases, this included a shift from face-to-face interactions to a virtual platform. Understanding the impact of diversity and equity in the virtual world from a professional perspective is new and should be closely studied as professions continue to use virtual platforms in the upcoming years. This work takes a close look at equity and diversity in virtual settings across professions from multiple perspectives to better understand the impact moving online has on diverse populations.

Authors: Emily Reeves, Alistair Fyfe, Christina McIntyre

Published in: London International Conference on Education (LICE-2021)

  • Date of Conference: 22-24 November 2021
  • DOI: 10.20533/LICE.2021.0028
  • ISBN: 978-1-913572-42-6
  • Conference Location: Virtual (London, UK)

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