Equal Personhood Does Not Mean Equal Pay in Canada

TORONTO, Oct. 13, 2021 /CNW/ - In the eyes of the law, women have been "persons" since October 18^th, 1929. In 2021, for many women, pay cheques haven't followed suit. Work predominantly done by women continues to be undervalued.  While Ontario has had the most advanced pay equity legislation globally for the past 30 years, the gender wage gap persists and threatens to widen as women's employment plummeted during the pandemic.

Deloitte LLP found that a qualified working woman in Ontario who has the same socio-economic and demographic characteristics and experience in the workplace as a man, on average receives $7,200 less pay per year. This amounts to $18 billion of foregone income per year for all working women in Ontario. Deloitte also estimated that revenues from personal and sales tax could increase by $2.6 billion and that government spending on social assistance, tax credits, and child benefits could decrease by $103 million, due to the projected increase in families' income.¹

"The impacts of pay inequity are large and measurable" says Kadie Ward, Commissioner and CAO of Ontario's Pay Equity Commission.  "Paying women equitably drives income equality, workforce productivity and increases household income. Increasing household income is a salient goal given that 57 percent of Canadian GDP is driven by household spending.²"

The team at the Pay Equity Office wants equal personhood to be matched with equal pay.  That's why they have launched a 6-part web-series called Level the Paying Field exploring topics related to economics, equity, women, work and wage equity. "Being equal in person means being equal in worth", states Ward.

Visit www.Levelthepayingfield.ca for more information.

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¹ Deloitte. May 2016. Costs and Benefits of Closing Ontario's Gender Wage Gap. Prepared for Ministry of Labour.

² Yalnizyan, Armine, Measuring the She-Cession in Canada in MacLean's. December 2020. Charts to Watch in 2021: The most important Canadian economic graphs for the year ahead.

Quick Facts 

• The gender wage gap is the difference between wages earned by men and wages earned by women. According to Statistics Canada, the pre-pandemic gender wage gap in Ontario was 12.2%. This means that for every $1.00 earned by a male worker, a female worker earns 88 cents. This gap is even wider for Indigenous women in Canada who earn 65 cents on the dollar, racialized women who earn 67 cents, and newcomer women who earn 71 cents. 
• It has been reported that 1.5 million women in Canada lost their jobs in the first two months of the pandemic and in April 2020, women's employment dropped to 55 percent, the lowest it has been since the 1980s. 
• Ontario was the first government globally to pass a Pay Equity Act in 1988. The Ontario Pay Equity Office has offered information to help employers and employees understand their rights and responsibilities under the Act for over 30 years. It also investigates complaints alleging contravention of the Pay Equity Act and works to help parties resolve their disputes. 

Additional Resources 

• Visit LevelThePayingField.ca 
• More information on the Pay Equity Commission | Commission de l'équalité salariale (gov.on.ca)  

SOURCE Pay Equity Office

To schedule an interview with Commissioner Ward: Joanna McDonald, Program Specialist, [email protected], [phone]