Women fuel economic growth
The Leader-Post (Regina) / The Montreal Gazette
4 Jul 06
Viewpoints -- By: Janet Bagnall

EXCERPT

.... The contribution of women to global economic growth -- in both the developed and developing world -- is enormous, the Economist reported in April. It wrote, "the increased employment of women in developed economies has contributed much more to global growth than China has."
You would think if women are not heralded as the saviours of the world's economies and the guardians of the next generation's well being, their contribution might receive some slight acknowledgment -- at least in the egalitarian West.

After all, girls in industrialized countries have taken to heart the advice to get an education and become financially self-sufficient. In Canada, as else where, girls get better grades than boys. They are awarded more than half of all university degrees. They delay marriage and childbirth to launch a career.

Are their countries grateful? Not always. In too much of the industrialized world, working women, and especially working mothers, are met with a troubling ambiguity. Shouldn't they be at home with their children? Isn't the fact they work the reason the birthrates in so many developed countries have plunged?

Never mind that countries like Canada, Britain and Sweden can no longer manage without the economic participation of women. Sweden at least has the grace to admit the fact. It provides women with the support they need, parental leave, daycare and flexible working hours.

But in Canada, and even more markedly in the United States, the debate around the proper place for a mother shows no sign of exhausting itself... the fact most North American women with children work outside the home: about 72 per cent of Canadian and American women with pre-school-age children are in the paid workforce.

In Canada, the latest skirmish is being fought over Statistics Canada figures showing the retreat of Alberta's mothers from the paid workforce. In 1992, women from the Prairie provinces led the country in participation in the paid workforce, while Quebec women ranked dead last. By 2005, the positions were reversed. Mothers in Alberta had the lowest participation level, despite the province's red-hot economy, and Quebec mothers had taken the lead in Canada.

There are people who hope that what's happening in Alberta means that when women have financial freedom, they'll choose to stay home. But an analysis by Statistics Canada's Francine Roy suggests issues other than social values are in play. These include education level, availability of affordable daycare and type of job market.

As recently as 1990, Quebec women had the least post-secondary education in the country.

Today, they have the most. Quebec's $7-a-day daycare, for those with access to it, has enabled many women to join the paid workforce. As well, in recent years Quebec's service industry has grown faster than has manufacturing. More women have white-collar jobs, while blue-collar work still tends to be the preserve of men.

For decades now, women have provided most of Canada's growth in labour. In provinces where women have not entered the workplace at the same pace as in Quebec, there are now labour shortages. That includes British Columbia and the Prairie provinces, especially Alberta.

With an aging population, Statistics Canada's Roy points out, workers have to come from somewhere. Immigration is not providing enough new workers.

It is time to let go of the fantasy that women don't want to work and that in the best of all worlds, they shouldn't have to. Many do want to work. That's what they're doing in the workplace. And if what a country like Canada wants is a secure economic base, with a steady supply of workers, it's time it acknowledged women's, and mothers', role in the economy.

As for the question of whether birth rates are doomed to stay low when women are in the workforce, the Economist reports that drops in fertility have been more pronounced in countries where fewer women are in the workforce. Germany, Italy and Japan are examples.

Sweden has higher fertility rates, high labour participation among women -- and strong support systems for working mothers. That's the winning combination, right there.