There is a significant reason for the federal government to focus on women in the economy, beyond that it’s the right thing to do morally, MP Jennifer O’Connell told a small group who attended a roundtable session Tuesday at the Women’s Centre of York Region.
And that reason is the more women in the workforce, the better it is for the economy.
“In our fall economic statement, reducing the wage gap and having more women in the workforce could add $150 billion to Canada’s economy,” O’Connell said, who serves as parliamentary secretary to Finance Minister Bill Morneau. “The Peterson Institute for International Economics found that increasing the share of women in leadership positions from zero to 30 per cent — so not a big leap — could boost profits by 15 per cent."
Royal Bank of Canada economists estimate that adding more women to the workforce could boost Canada’s gross domestic product, a measure of the country’s growth, by 4 per cent, she added.
Newmarket-Aurora MP Kyle Peterson hosted the free-flowing roundtable discussion in the riding, in partnership with the Women’s Centre of York Region, a non-profit agency that provides a range of support and services to disadvantaged women.
The federal representatives also provided key highlights of the government of Canada’s historic, proactive pay equity legislation that will ensure women working in the federal public service, federally regulated workplaces such as banks, parliamentary workplaces and ministers’ offices receive equal pay for work of equal value.
The legislation also allows for the appointment of a pay equity commissioner within the Canadian Human Rights Commission in an education and enforcement role.
Attendees included women from a range of the region’s sectors, including entrepreneurs, non-profits, businesses and a local chamber of commerce.
“The good industries and the good companies can do this themselves,” Peterson said, noting how a Toronto law firm boosted its retention of female lawyers to 45 per cent by giving them time credit for such things as maternity leave, rather than considering them absent from the workplace.
While Canada has seen growth in wages and more women in the workforce than at any other time in the country’s history, clear and present barriers facing women’s involvement in the workforce remain.
“I appreciate the sharing of the parental leave, but it doesn’t take into consideration the amount of sacrifice that really comes from women,” Women’s Centre of York Region executive director Liora Sobel said. “Breastfeeding is important to the child, but there’s guilt and pressure on the women to go back to work as soon as possible, to stop breastfeeding and take that away from your child, when all we’re told by public health is that breastfeeding is the best thing you can do for your baby.”
For Nicole Middleton, the Newmarket-based publisher of Brainspace and Brainspace Magazine, micro-loans and government grants are skewed toward younger entrepreneurs.
“There are challenges around women in technology, especially for those over 40,” Middleton said. “There are funds available for younger people and others, but nothing much for women over 40. And you have to be mindful of the fact that many female entrepreneurs who are starting their businesses are above 40.”
Other issues that were put out on the table included the lack of affordable child care, not enough women in senior leadership positions, age and race discrimination, the burden for family care falling disproportionately on women and more.
“The perception of being absent in the workplace means we have more opportunity to be overlooked for advancements and wage increases,” Newmarket’s Nurse Next Door owner Vicky McGrath said. “I feel like there is a real requirement for pay equity policy and workplace committees to oversee that and recognize that the perception of absence in the workplace does not mean the person shouldn’t be considered a hard worker.”
Aurora Chamber of Commerce executive director Sandra Ferri said that while she’s in favour of pay equity policy, it does raise some concerns for her.
“In terms of pay equity, my only concern is that much like the minimum wage going up so quickly, how will this impact businesses?” she said.
Quick facts, courtesy of the Government of Canada:
- In Canada in 2017, for every dollar a man earned, a woman earned 88.5 cents on the dollar as measured in hourly wages for full-time workers. When comparing overall earnings on an annual basis, women earned even less – just 69 cents for every dollar earned by men.
- The gender wage gap is a complex issue with multiple underlying causes. In addition to the undervaluation of work traditionally performed by women, these causes include, among other things: over-representation of women in part-time work; labour market segmentation of women in low-paying sectors; women’s lack of representation in senior positions; bias and discrimination in the workplace; and women’s greater share of unpaid work.
- While proactive pay equity legislation is an important tool that will contribute to reducing the gender wage gap, it needs to be part of a broader array of policy tools, such as the government’s investments in early learning and child care, improved financial support for training and learning, enhanced parental leave flexibility, pay transparency, the continued appointment of skilled, talented women to leadership positions, and better access to flexible work arrangements.
- On Oct. 25, 2018, the Government of Canada released its Proactive Pay Equity What We Heard report, which summarizes feedback from stakeholders, including key employer, employee and advocacy stakeholders.
- In developing the proactive pay equity regime, input received during 2017 Labour Program consultations with employee, employer and advocacy stakeholders has been taken into consideration, as well as the reports of the Special Committee on Pay Equity (ESPE) and the Pay Equity Task Force (Bilson) and lessons learned in Ontario and Quebec, the only two jurisdictions in Canada that have had a proactive approach to pay equity applying to both the public and private sectors for many years.
- Since 1977, the Canadian Human Rights Act has recognized pay equity as a right for employees in the federal jurisdiction under a complaint-based system. As a result, it does not require employers to actively examine their compensation practices; instead, the onus is placed on employees to bring complaints forward regarding pay discrimination. A proactive system requires employers to ensure their compensation practices are in line with pay equity requirements.
