Equal Pay Coalition - Ontario Election 2007

The Equal Pay Coalition was formed in 1976 as a coalition of organizations to seek the implementation of equal pay for work of equal value both through legislation and collective bargaining. The Coalition has over 39 constituent and partner groups which represent Ontario women and men who support equal pay for work of equal value . See About Us for more information.

Overview of the Issues

On average, women still earn less than men, regardless of their occupation. For Aboriginal and racially visible women, the wage gap is even wider. And, pay discrimination continues to take its toll when women retire.

Statistics from the federal Pay Equity Task Force Report issued in 2004 show:

Overall, women earn 71% of the amount earned by men in comparable jobs;
Aboriginal women earn 46%;
racially visible women earn 64%; and
retired women on CPP/QPP receive 58% of the benefits compared to men.

And it`s not only older women that are facing these issues:

Women younger than 30 earn less today than women in that age group did two decades ago.
The majority of women (70% in 2003) still work in traditional jobs — teaching, nursing and health care, clerical, and administrative sales and services categories.
And, women with university degrees, who used to have a smaller pay gap, now earn just 69.8% compared to men with degrees (down from an all-time high of 75.9% in 1995).

Pay discrimination contributes to poverty and economic dependence with devastating health and social consequences. Pay equity legislation helps to compensate women for historic and systemic discrimination and help women achieve real equality.

Women have been working hard to win higher wages and reduce the wage gap. We cannot start thinking for a moment that the struggle for equal pay is over! We have to ensure that pay equity laws are strengthened, and that resources for enforcement are strengthened.

Equal Pay Coalition: Our Position

We need to continue to re-evaluate our pay equity strategies to ensure we're effective in closing the male-female wage gap - and across the labour market, not just within a specific workplace. That's a more difficult task and requires a variety of strategies to address all sources of low pay.

Pressing for the extension of proactive pay equity legislation to all sectors of the economy is important. Pay equity legislation should also be extended to address pay discrimination based on race, as well as gender. Pay equity approaches should continue to be examined for class biases too, where low-paid workers - often the vast majority of employees -gain little, in favour of high-wage increases for more "highly skilled" workers. Training to identify gender, class and racial biases in compensation practices should be ongoing for pay equity committee members who evaluate male and female jobs.

Raising the minimum wage continues to be one of the most effective ways to raise wages for over the lowest-paid women workers, many of whom are also visible minority women.

We also need to provide more paid time for family needs, since women are often the ones to reduce paid work to juggle these demands. This runs the gamut from parental to compassionate leaves, paid vacations and personal paid holidays, reduced working time at no loss of pay, and better rights and conditions for part-time work.

The Equal Pay Coalition has written to all four party leaders in Ontario, asking for their position on a number of issues related to pay equity. For a copy of the letter we sent and the responses we received, see below.

Downloadable Resources:

Postcards:

Support Pay Equity. Your daughters will thank you.

Support Pay Equity. Your sisters will thank you.

Support Pay Equity. Your grandmothers will thank you.

Support Pay Equity. Your mother will thank you.

Support Pay Equity. Your community will thank you

Support Pay Equity. Your children will thank you.

Pay Equity is a human right.

Posters:

Support Pay Equity. Your mothers will thank you.

Support Pay Equity. Your daughters will thank you.