Upcoming 20th Anniversary of the Pay Equity Act
By Michelle Dagnino
January 2008 marks the 20th anniversary of Ontario’s pay equity legislation. To mark the anniversary, pay equity advocates are sending out the message that Ontario women are entitled to be paid free of the discrimination that keeps them earning less than men.
The Ontario government currently owes $78 million from 2006-2007 and will owe a further $467.9 million from 2008-2011 to over 100,000 women working in predominantly female workplaces such as child care centres that use the proxy comparison method for pay equity. Regardless of their occupation or education, most Ontario women continue to be paid less than men because they do women's work. Women on average still earn only 71% of what men earn-leaving a 29% pay gap. This is the best evidence that pay equity in Ontario is far from being achieved, nor has it been maintained as the Pay Equity Act requires.
A. Canada Falls Behind Compared to Other Countries
Ontario’s failure to adequately fund women’s work has contributed to Canada’s slip in global gender equality rankings. Canada has fallen behind as compared to the rest of the world in terms of ensuring gender equality, according to a study by the World Economic Forum released in early November 2007. The annual study ranking 128 countries found Canada had slipped four spots to 18th place compared with last year. Based on a scale in which perfect equality was assigned a score of 1.0, Canada achieved an overall mark of 0.72. That included almost perfect marks in the categories of educational attainment and health and survival. But Canada scored lower on economic participation and opportunity and much lower on political empowerment, with women making up only 21 per cent of MPs and 23 per cent of cabinet posts in Parliament.
The countries that ranked the highest in the World Economic Forum gender equality rankings were countries with the strongest employment equity legislation. Nordic countries received the highest marks for gender parity in education, employment, health and politics.
B. Ongoing Efforts to Achieve Pay Equity
Advocates have long been frustrated by the government’s many attempts to weaken or eliminate the Pay Equity Act as well as the claims of pay equity opponents such as employers and taxpayer groups, that it should not be a provincial responsibility to fund pay equity.
Unions and workers launched challenges under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1996 and 2001 to obtain more government funding for pay equity. They achieved successful results in both cases. In addition, a mediated settlement in 2003 provided $414 million to fund better pay equity through 2006, but there have been no government commitments to fund pay equity further since that time.
Advocates say the government must commit $78 million to cover pay equity funding that should have been allocated since 2006, while another $470 million should be earmarked to help make more salaries fairer through 2011.
The Equal Pay Coalition is working hard to get pay equity back on the agenda. The Coalition has launched a postcard campaign to call on the newly elected Government to take action. An awareness campaign will also be launched in 2008, and a report card released on the Government’s progress on pay equity. The Coalition has been lobbying government leaders, and received responses from all 4 party leaders in request to their position on equal pay for women, which can be found on their website. The Coalition has also convened a meeting with the Pay Equity Commissioner to discuss the Commission’s ongoing obligations to monitor and maintain employers’ current pay equity obligations, and to educate the public about their rights.
As Ontario moves towards the 20th Anniversary of the Pay Equity Act, the Coalition has mounted a province-wide campaign to bring public attention to the need for Ontario’s pay equity system to be revitalized, strengthened, adequately resourced and enforced.
For more information visit the Equal Pay Coalition website at: www.equalpaycoalition.org