Canada and the World
Current Events with a Canadian Perspective
Last update
20 April 2011
Workplace Gender
Equality in Canada
While women have made enormous strides in
the last two generations, but there’s
still a gap between male and female salaries
Women still receive less money for the same work as men and they still face a glass ceiling for promotion.
Income Inequality Still an Issue
As the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) points out some people think economic equality
for women is no longer an 
issue: they believe higher education has created plenty
of new business opportunities.
But, in its May 2008 report on Women in the Workforce: Still a Long Way from Equality,
the CLC says the fact remains that “after many years of progress through the 1970s
and 1980s, the gender wage gap in Canada has remained stuck since the mid-
The 2008 report says women working full time in 2005 received about 70 percent as much as comparable men, $39,200 versus $55,700 respectively.
In the mid-
Women Excluded from better Paying Jobs
The report explains that women are still largely excluded from higher-
And, even when they move into professional and skilled technical jobs, they still are paid less than comparable men. “More than three in four of the earners making at least $89,000 a year (the top five percent of the Canadian workforce) are men, and men are still three times more likely than women to be senior managers.”
The Canadian Labour Congress points out that as recently as the 1950s, job ads actually listed “men’s rates” and “women’s rates” of pay. Men and women working side by side, doing exactly the same job were paid different wages.
Feminization of Poverty
The Women’s Housing Equality Network (WHEN) says flatly that in Canada, women are poorer than they have been in two decades. On its website, WHEN explains that “Because of gender inequality and discrimination in every area of society, women represent the majority of social assistance recipients and hold most of the lowest paying and less secure jobs.”
WHEN adds that in all provinces and territories, except for New Brunswick, Newfoundland, and Manitoba, social assistance recipients are not eligible for the National Child Benefit Supplement.
Female Single Parents Face Obstacles
In September 2009, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) reported that
women on their own are the poorest of the poor, especially if they’re raising children
in lone-
“Yet their plight has been virtually ignored by the policy-
The Centre makes a number of points:
- Women who work full-
time year- round earn only 71 percent of the average earnings of men working full- time. Wage gaps between women and men are even higher when hourly wage rates are compared; - Most women don’t have pension plans at work, nor do most men, but women’s low wages make it almost impossible for them to save for retirement;
- Women’s low earnings during their working life are reflected in the retirement pensions they get from the Canada Pension Plan (CPP). In a year when the maximum CPP retirement pension is $908.75 a month, the average monthly retirement pension being paid to women who retired in May 2009 was only $391.29, compared with an average of $564.23 a month for retired men; and,
- Women’s jobs are much more likely to be part-
time, contract work, working through a temporary help agency, or working on their own. And, lack of affordable child care also limits women’s choices of paid employment. Almost 40 percent of women’s jobs, compared with 30 percent of men’s jobs, are poorly paid, with little job security and no benefits such as pensions.
Image credits
Eugen Nosko
Alan Light
Sources
“Women in the Workforce: Still a Long Way from Equality.” Canadian Labour Congress, May 2008.
“Canadian Women on their own are Poorest of the Poor.” Monica Townson, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, September 8, 2009
“Women’s Economic Equality.” Canadian Labour Congress.
“Who’s in the Know: Women Surge, Men Sink in Gender Gap.” Elizabeth Church, Globe and Mail, October 1, 2010.
“The Hurdle to Leap in the Next Election.” Globe and Mail, January 20, 2010
© Canada and the World, April 2011
All rights reserved
“More than one in five women aged 25 to 54, the peak earnings years, make less than $12 per hour, almost double the proportion of men.”
Canadian Labour Congress
SHIFTING PRIORITIES
A trend is playing out all over Canada; more and more women are enrolling in post-
Writing in The Globe and Mail, Elizabeth Church notes that “There are now three female undergraduates for every two male students on Canadian campuses…”
She points out that with higher levels of education “Women are expected to gain more power in public and corporate life and more financial independence.”
The gender imbalance in colleges and universities means that women will find it harder to locate mates with similar education levels. Church suggests that this will lead to more women taking a pass on traditional marriage/family lifestyles.
WHERE ARE THE
FEMALE POLITICIANS?
In an editorial (January 11, 2010) The Globe and Mail comments that, “…for a country that prides itself on its inclusiveness and diversity, Canadians are doing a poor job of reflecting their society in their political ranks.”
It lists the facts that in the House of Commons (at dissolution in March 2011), women comprised just 22 percent of elected representatives; 23 percent of members in provincial and territorial legislatures; and 23 percent of people on municipal councils.
This, in a country whose population is 52 percent female, places Canada 47th in the
world for the proportion of women in its national parliament, according to the Inter-