March 8th is International Women’s Day which is observed annually around the globe. The Day is a powerful reminder to keep working hard on eliminating gender-based stereotypes while celebrating women’s achievements, creativity and strength. It is also a day to recognize the fact that a lot more work is needed to be done to reduce and even eliminate inequities in employment wages and benefits received by women in comparison to men for work of equal value.
For years now Canadian working women have reported earning almost a quarter less than male counterparts despite strides by women attaining education and acceptance in higher-paying professions. A new pay equity study this past year by Leger Research shows that women took home an average pre-tax salary of $51,352 in 2019 compared with $67,704 for men — a 24 percent gap. In addition, the study also found that men received more than twice the additional compensation of bonuses or profit sharing than women. It should be noted that, according to a survey by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Canada’s gender wage gap in 2018 ranked 5th largest among 29 countries. The OECD found that the United States, South Korea, Japan, and Israel had the highest disparities, while Belgium, Greece and Costa Rica the lowest.
The federal government and six Canadian provinces — Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Ontario and Quebec — have enacted pay equity legislation in an attempt to reduce pay inequities between men and women. Needless-to-say, Leger Research also found that traditional job identities persist with women outnumbering men by about four times in health care, while men are three times more prevalent in higher-paying technology/IT, finance and manufacturing jobs. In addition, women are still overrepresented in part-time work and lower paying service jobs. However, even where qualified women are working alongside men in the same profession, there are still discrepancies in pay levels and benefits, especially when it came to employers’ parental and child care leave provisions.
On March 8th, it is incumbent upon governments and businesses to recognize the on-going pay inequities faced by women in both Canada and the U.S. As a society, we need to encourage and require employers to ensure that women are fairly rewarded for their work and societal contributions. It is just the right thing to do, especially since our changing information economy will have a greater need for the participation of more highly educated and talented women and men.
FROLITICKS 