Each year in early April, we “celebrate” Equal Pay Day, but it’s not much of a celebration. That’s because Equal Pay Day marks how many extra days into 2021 it takes the average Canadian woman to earn as much as the average man earned in the twelve months of 2020. In other words, the average woman in this country earns 20-30% less than the average man.
And that’s just an average. Women who face multiple forms of discrimination must work even longer into the year to hit their Equal Pay Days. Systemic discrimination in the economy means that women with disabilities face a 56% gender wage gap, immigrant women a 55% gender wage gap, Indigenous women a 45% gender wage gap and racialized women a 40% gender wage gap.
During the pandemic, women’s work is essential to our economy and well-being. Women are on the front lines at work, in health care, education and key services, and on the front lines at home, helping educate children and keeping family members safe and cared for. Yet women have suffered the most job losses during the pandemic and benefited least from the recovery.
That must change. We want a recovery that helps women, too. We want a recovery that:
- Funds affordable, quality child care
- Makes paid sick days a right for all workers
- Increases the minimum wage to a living wage
- Guarantees and enforces pay equity
- Takes women, in all their diversity, into account when making economic policy
Women workers deserve better!
In solidarity,
Ken Neumann
National Director
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