Close the wage gap

It’s a problem as old as the hills — the stubborn wage gap between men and women that continues to drag down a large chunk of the workforce.

For decades, groups as diverse as the Equal Pay Coalition, Catalyst, think-tanks and banks have studied it, and decried it, without much effect. In the late 1980s Ontario even passed pay-equity legislation that was supposed to close the gap, but didn’t.

Now, Premier Kathleen Wynne is once again raising hopes that change may be on the way. On her instructions, Labour Minister Kevin Flynn and Women’s Issues Minister Tracy MacCharles are working together to “develop a wage gap strategy that will close the gap between men and women.” Wynne’s words.

They’ve struck a Gender Wage Gap Steering Committee that will soon begin holding provincewide public hearings and consultations with businesses to find ways to close the gap. The process runs from Oct. 26 through December. People will also be encouraged to share their ideas via email, mail, fax, and even Twitter. And Wynne fully expects this process will produce action, not just talk.

The committee includes some high-powered, highly-qualified people including Emanuela Heyninck, Ontario’s pay equity commissioner; Nancy Austin, former executive director of the Ontario Human Rights Commission; Dr. Parbudyal Singh, a professor of human resource management at York University; and Linda Davis, past-president of the Business and Professional Women’s Clubs of Ontario and a current board member of the Equal Pay Coalition. That alone speaks to the government’s seriousness to move on this issue.

The challenge is undeniably daunting. Women earned 31.5 per cent less than men in Ontario in 2011. That was worse than the gap of 28 per cent the year before. It’s not much better than when the Pay Equity Act was passed in 1987 when the gap was 38 per cent.

The impact is huge. Way back in 2005, the Royal Bank estimated that if Canadian women had the same labour market opportunities as men, personal incomes would be $168 billion higher each year.

The gap can’t be blamed on a lack of women’s participation in the work force, as nearly half of it is female. Nor can it be attributed to a lack of education. Or a lack of women in high-skill jobs.

If that were the case, then nurses would make more than cable television service and maintenance technicians. But as it is, bettereducated and more skilled nurses have median earnings of only $38,261while technicians earn $51,030. What it has more to do with is the fact that 90 per cent of nurses are female and 97 per cent of technicians are male. It’s about job categories.

Regardless of how educated or skilled women are, or what they do, “women still face significant barriers and disadvantages in employment compared to men,” the government notes.

As Wynne says, that’s got to change. It’s as unfair as it is unproductive. Let’s start tearing down those barriers.

Premier Kathleen Wynne is once again raising hopes that change may be on the way