Women continue to earn less than men worldwide
Women around the world, including Canada, continue to earn less than men. But at least one province is making some inroads. Since New Brunswick implemented its wage gap action plan in 2005, it experienced the largest drop in the wage disparity of any Canadian province.
The biggest part of the government’s strategy has been educating employers, employees and students about the wage gap, said Cindy Lanteigne, director of the province’s wage gap reduction initiative.
“When you say ‘wage gap,’ people don’t know what that is, especially the youth,” she said. “They can’t believe there’s a wage gap.”
The national wage gap between men and women, based on average hourly earnings, remained the same in 2005 and 2006 at 19.3 per cent, according to Statistics Canada. However, New Brunswick’s wage gap dropped 3.1 percentage points from 16.7 per cent to 13.6 per cent.
Five other provinces saw a reduction in the wage gap, ranging from 0.7 to 1.6 percentage points, while four provinces saw an increase. Alberta, which has the biggest wage gap at 30.1 per cent, also had the largest increase of 3.8 percentage points.
An International Labour Organization (ILO) report on discrimination, Equality at Work: Tackling the Challenges, found that between 1995 and 2004 the gender pay gap narrowed or stagnated for most countries and women continued to earn less than men.
When trying to determine how much of the wage gap is due to discrimination, objective factors, such as differences in education, years of experience and hours worked, must be considered.
Other objective factors include the representation of women in union ranks and the likelihood women would move for a promotion, said Felice Martinello, an economics professor at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont.
“Women are less likely to move to a good job because traditionally they wouldn’t be the main earner,” he said.
Instead, women are more likely to sacrifice their own careers and income when their husbands have to move for a promotion, said Martinello.
However, even when all of these factors are taken into account, the ILO report stated that, in industrialized countries, about five per cent to 15 per cent of the gap is due to discrimination.
In 2003, the New Brunswick Wage Gap Roundtable identified the value placed on working women by people in the province as the main culprit.
“We’re trying to lead (people) in identifying a more constructive set of cultural attitudes that’s going to support a society in which men and women are economic equals,” said Lanteigne.
The roundtable identified three factors that contribute to the undervaluation of women in the workforce: the expectation of women to take care of the family; the limited range of occupations available to women; and the undervaluation of work traditionally done by women.
New Brunswick’s wage gap action plan includes four goals and 13 concrete measures to determine whether those goals have been met (see sidebar above).
The New Brunswick government also has four specific targets it wants to achieve by 2010: zero pay inequity in all parts of the public sector; a provincial wage gap of 10 per cent; women holding a minimum of one-third of all decision-making positions in the public service; and a maximum of one-third of women in the 10 occupations most commonly held by women.
About one-half of New Brunswick women work in one of these 10 occupations, which have a combined average yearly income of $21,265 compared to $33,895 for the 10 occupations most commonly held by men, according to the 2001 census.
“Women have tended to crowd into lower paid occupations, such as daycares,” said Martinello.
The government is reaching out to working women and students to educate them about non-traditional jobs.
“We want people to realize that if they want to be a journeyperson, that’s also a career option. They don’t have to be a teacher, a cook or a nurse” said Lanteigne.
The government has an online toolkit for employers with a seven-step process to reducing the wage gap. It includes fact sheets on the wage gap; assessments to measure the organization’s wage gap, employee retention, satisfaction and absenteeism; and workshops to help organizations develop and implement a wage gap plan.
NATIONAL SNAPSHOT
Provincial wage gaps based on average hourly earnings
Source: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey
PAY EQUITY
N.B.’s wage gap action plan
There are four goals and 13 concrete measures in New Brunswick’s wage gap action plan:
Change societal attitudes
• women’s right to work outside the home;
• sharing of domestic responsibilities; and
• percentage of women in decision-making structures and bodies.
Increase sharing of family responsibilities
• number of licensed daycare spaces and centres;
• number of employer-sponsored daycare services;
• number of hours spent on family duties; and
• number of employers with family-friendly practices.
Reduce job clustering of women
• percentage of women employed in gender-clustered jobs;
• number of female journeypersons;
• wage gap for community college grads; and
• percentage of women decision-makers in the workplace.
Increase use of pay equity practices
• per cent of employees paid under gender-neutral pay systems; and
• wage gap between gender-clustered jobs.
The biggest part of the government’s strategy has been educating employers, employees and students about the wage gap, said Cindy Lanteigne, director of the province’s wage gap reduction initiative.
“When you say ‘wage gap,’ people don’t know what that is, especially the youth,” she said. “They can’t believe there’s a wage gap.”
The national wage gap between men and women, based on average hourly earnings, remained the same in 2005 and 2006 at 19.3 per cent, according to Statistics Canada. However, New Brunswick’s wage gap dropped 3.1 percentage points from 16.7 per cent to 13.6 per cent.
Five other provinces saw a reduction in the wage gap, ranging from 0.7 to 1.6 percentage points, while four provinces saw an increase. Alberta, which has the biggest wage gap at 30.1 per cent, also had the largest increase of 3.8 percentage points.
An International Labour Organization (ILO) report on discrimination, Equality at Work: Tackling the Challenges, found that between 1995 and 2004 the gender pay gap narrowed or stagnated for most countries and women continued to earn less than men.
When trying to determine how much of the wage gap is due to discrimination, objective factors, such as differences in education, years of experience and hours worked, must be considered.
Other objective factors include the representation of women in union ranks and the likelihood women would move for a promotion, said Felice Martinello, an economics professor at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont.
“Women are less likely to move to a good job because traditionally they wouldn’t be the main earner,” he said.
Instead, women are more likely to sacrifice their own careers and income when their husbands have to move for a promotion, said Martinello.
However, even when all of these factors are taken into account, the ILO report stated that, in industrialized countries, about five per cent to 15 per cent of the gap is due to discrimination.
In 2003, the New Brunswick Wage Gap Roundtable identified the value placed on working women by people in the province as the main culprit.
“We’re trying to lead (people) in identifying a more constructive set of cultural attitudes that’s going to support a society in which men and women are economic equals,” said Lanteigne.
The roundtable identified three factors that contribute to the undervaluation of women in the workforce: the expectation of women to take care of the family; the limited range of occupations available to women; and the undervaluation of work traditionally done by women.
New Brunswick’s wage gap action plan includes four goals and 13 concrete measures to determine whether those goals have been met (see sidebar above).
The New Brunswick government also has four specific targets it wants to achieve by 2010: zero pay inequity in all parts of the public sector; a provincial wage gap of 10 per cent; women holding a minimum of one-third of all decision-making positions in the public service; and a maximum of one-third of women in the 10 occupations most commonly held by women.
About one-half of New Brunswick women work in one of these 10 occupations, which have a combined average yearly income of $21,265 compared to $33,895 for the 10 occupations most commonly held by men, according to the 2001 census.
“Women have tended to crowd into lower paid occupations, such as daycares,” said Martinello.
The government is reaching out to working women and students to educate them about non-traditional jobs.
“We want people to realize that if they want to be a journeyperson, that’s also a career option. They don’t have to be a teacher, a cook or a nurse” said Lanteigne.
The government has an online toolkit for employers with a seven-step process to reducing the wage gap. It includes fact sheets on the wage gap; assessments to measure the organization’s wage gap, employee retention, satisfaction and absenteeism; and workshops to help organizations develop and implement a wage gap plan.
NATIONAL SNAPSHOT
Provincial wage gaps based on average hourly earnings
|
Source: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey
PAY EQUITY
N.B.’s wage gap action plan
There are four goals and 13 concrete measures in New Brunswick’s wage gap action plan:
Change societal attitudes
• women’s right to work outside the home;
• sharing of domestic responsibilities; and
• percentage of women in decision-making structures and bodies.
Increase sharing of family responsibilities
• number of licensed daycare spaces and centres;
• number of employer-sponsored daycare services;
• number of hours spent on family duties; and
• number of employers with family-friendly practices.
Reduce job clustering of women
• percentage of women employed in gender-clustered jobs;
• number of female journeypersons;
• wage gap for community college grads; and
• percentage of women decision-makers in the workplace.
Increase use of pay equity practices
• per cent of employees paid under gender-neutral pay systems; and
• wage gap between gender-clustered jobs.
