Women lose ground on pay
Vancouver Island News Group - Nanaimo News Bulletin
29 Mar 2008

Education doesn't always pay and, ostensibly, neither does being a woman.

At least not according to a report released last week that indicates the wage gap between genders is widening in Canada.

And during the past decade, women with post-secondary degrees have regressed most financially, according to Working Women: Still a Long Way from Equality.

"Canadian women are falling behind," said Debbie Fraess, secretary of the Nanaimo, Duncan District Labour Council. "We're being paid less than men for equal work and the gap is widening.

"There is something wrong here."

According to Working Women, Canadian women earned 70.5 cents for every $1 earned by men in 2005.

In contrast, women earned 72 cents for every loonie earned by men in the 1990s.

For women with college or university education, the divide cuts deeper.

A decade ago, they earned 75 cents for every dollar earned by men; today, they earn 68 cents.

"Women have been equal participants in Canada's workforce for two generations," Fraess said. "We should be equally rewarded for our work. It's time things change."

Nanaimo-Cowichan MP Jean Crowder attributed that regression to an over- representation of women in jobs that are undervalued financially.

"The education gap has closed," Crowder said. "But the wage gap hasn't.

"Women are still represented in clerical sales, those kinds of jobs. When you look at comparable work for men, men are paid more."

Closing the gap would require increasing minimum wage and placing equal value on a variety of professions, Crowder said.

She also believes more governmental support of childcare is needed, especially since some parents - usually women - take leaves to look after children.

"[Women] have more domestic responsibilities," Crowder said. "When they come back into the workforce, they're coming back at an entry level."

Maria Gomes, human rights advisor at Malaspina University-College, made similar observations.

While women are participating in post-secondary education more than men, they're choosing careers that don't pay as much, she said. …