B.C. NDP calls for law to close pay gap between women, men
B.C. has the worst gender pay gap in Canada and, on International Women's Day, the B.C. Liberals blasted the NDP government for refusing to bring in pay-equity legislation which it said would close that gap.
Liberal MLA Stephanie Cadieux is pushing for the government to debate her private member's bill, which would require businesses that employ more than 50 people to disclose a breakdown of salaries and bonuses paid to all employees in order to identify gender disparities. Cadieux has tabled the Equal Pay Reporting Act 2020 three times, but it has yet to be called by the government for debate.
Without the legislation, Cadieux said the pay structure and bonuses at large companies will remain opaque. “If we don't know (the extent of pay inequity) and we're not looking for it, we can't fix it,” she said.
B.C. is one of only four provinces without pay-equity legislation, which Raji Mangat, executive director for the West Coast Legal Education and Action Fund, said is one reason B.C. has a larger gender pay gap than other jurisdictions.
Women in B.C. make an average of 18.6 per cent less than men, which is equivalent to $5.90 an hour, according to Statistics Canada from 2018, the most recent figures available. Women earn on average 12.2 per cent less in Ontario and 10 per cent less in Quebec.
Mangat said Ontario passed proactive pay-equity legislation in 1988, and updated it in 1993. The Pay Equity Act requires publicand private-sector employers with 10 or more employees to prepare pay-equity plans. Mangat said the smaller pay gap in Ontario makes it clear that women and gender-diverse people in that province have benefited from the legislation.
B.C.'s Human Rights Code prohibits discrimination based on gender identity and expression, but many people are unwilling to bring a human rights complaint against their employers for fear of reprisal, Mangat said. “In the absence of any legislation, we're not seeing movement on this issue (in B.C.)”
She added that reform to address pay inequity is especially urgent given that the economic impact of the COVID -19 pandemic has been felt disproportionately by women.
A November report by the Royal Bank of Canada found that more than 20,000 women left the workforce between February and October, while about 68,000 men joined it. The report found that many women left the workforce to care for children during the pandemic while men picked up jobs in the science, technology, engineering and math sectors.
Finance Minister Selina Robinson told reporters Monday that the government has made major investments in child care, which is the key piece that allows women to participate in the workforce. The province also increased the minimum wage to $14.60 an hour last year, Robinson said.
Robinson said the private member's bill won't address the pay-equity gap, since 98 per cent of businesses have fewer than 50 employees.