Gender gap is getting lost in minimum wage debate

When Bill 148 was passed, we saw an increase to the minimum wage. However, our discussions of the potential implications of this change, and the policy itself, fail to adopt a gendered approach.

For women in Ontario, it’s likely they’re being paid marginally or significantly less than their male counterparts. Currently, half the workers in Ontario earning less than $15 per hour are between the ages of 25 and 64, the majority of which are women. The pay gap between men and women in Ontario sits at 30 per cent — as it has for virtually 30 years — worsening considerably for immigrant women (39 per cent) and Indigenous women (57 per cent). Visible minorities, once protected by Ontario’s Employment Equity Act, repealed in 1995, now stand as the province’s most under-represented population in the labour market.

The statistics are there, as are the barriers. Women still have to work more than 15 months to earn what men earn on average in a year. Given the current climate on gender equality, why do we remain stagnant in closing the gap?

The urge to increase minimum wage to $15 for 2019 is the first step the province has taken to diminish the gender pay gap, serving as a down payment for women in Ontario that constitute two-thirds of the part-time workforce and 58.3 per cent of minimum wage workers.

Now, when a worker or their child has experienced or is threatened with domestic or sexual violence, they are provided up to 17 weeks off without fear of losing their job.

Additionally, part-time, temporary, casual and seasonal employees doing the same work as full-time employees are now mandated equal pay.

Despite these minor adjustments, when Bill 148, Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, went into its second reading this past November, the reform fell short in tackling Ontario’s persisting gender pay gap head-on.

Raising women’s participation in the workforce by only 1 per cent has the potential to add 115,000 workers to the labour force.

Imagine the benefits that would arise in Canada if women were granted identical opportunities as their male counterparts. The Royal Bank already has.

If the labour market were to become and equal playing field, personal incomes would be $168 billion higher each year.

These numbers aren’t simply a lost economic opportunity, but symbols of the economics of sexism that comprise one of Canada’s largest, long-standing disproportionate share of power, that has marginalized and valorized Canadian women’s autonomy for decades.

From a global perspective, we’re lagging far behind.

Iceland entered 2018 with one of the most progressive pay transparency laws in the world, requiring companies and government agencies to prove they are paying men and women equally, and they’re not alone.

Quebec — alongside Denmark, Australia and the United Kingdom — requires employers with 10 or more employees to file their annual Pay Equity Plans electronically, proving that mandating pay transparency brings us one step closer to diminishing gender inequity.

But raising minimum wage for that matter simply won’t cut it. A legacy of inadequate funding, enforcement and action earned Ontario a C grade in gender wage parity, ranking Canada 10th among 16 peer countries.

It’s time our government revises Bill 148 to include an employer obligation to provide pay transparency, reintroduce Ontario’s Employment Equity Act and provide other immediate solutions, such as affordable child care, and always ask, “Does this help close or widen equity pay gaps?”