Gender inequality has been a long part of Canada’s history with men being the dominant decision makers. Women have had to fight long hard battles and overcome numerous obstacles to prove themselves and demonstrate that they are equal to men and not inferior. Over the course of a century women have achieved suffrage and have become increasingly visible in the political and economic sectors. Despite all the achievements women have made barriers remain in effect leaving women at a social, economic and political disadvantage even in the twenty-first century. The primary obstacles in achieving gender equality are the noticeable absence of women in authoritative economic and political positions, unfair social stereotypes that are still …show more content…
Women remain at an economic disadvantage compared to men due to the fact that some occupations still pay women less than their male counterparts. This unequal pay reinforces the thinking that it is okay for men to make more than women just because of their gender. This is an obstacle within the workplace which prevents a woman from advancing her career and allows for higher positions to continue consisting almost entirely of men. Present day in the labour market, “Canadian women earn 23% less than men regardless of their age, education or occupation” (Struman, 2015). Even though women have been quite successful in seeking employment and many possess a decent education, women continue to face a difference in pay because of their gender. In order to be seen as equals women need to be earning the same amount as their male coworkers because they possess the necessary skills needed to complete the job. Differences in pay should be based on an individual’s qualifications and job experience not their gender. The difference in pay prevents women from achieving success and reinforces the point that women remain at an economic disadvantage. Gender based pay is problematic and “[t]he Canadian gender pay gap is the fifth largest among the 34 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries… [and] the pay gap is particularly pronounced for single mothers, racialized women, First Nations women, and women with disabilities” (Struman, 2015). Gender
The Ideology of Meritocracy in Canada Inequalities exist all around the world in terms of wealth, workforce and social class. Social inequality plays a vital role in socioeconomically dividing the community into ranks of wealth, income, race and gender. These disparities have become the reason as to why there are income and power issues between men and women. Canada has exceedingly proved itself to be a nation built on multiculturalism, but inequalities in workforce and racial differentiation has been a defining feature from the beginning. While Canada strides on being identified as a diverse nation, social stratification is expressed along the lines of race and inequalities in workforce and in this paper, I will address how the ideology of
Although Canada is an advanced country full of opportunities, it has yet to fight some of its largest issues. Women in Canada are still victims of gender inequality. Women have been facing a patriarchal stance in society for as long as they can remember, but it goes beyond just patriarchy. These women are living in conditions which could be viewed as inhumane. In 1991, The Canadian Women’s Foundation was formed and they took a stance enforcing women’s equality. Women face poverty, violence in various ways such as; physical, emotional, and financial, they are viewed nothing more than just sex objects used to sell products to the public, and women are discouraged from working at the same
The pay gap that exists between men and women is an obstacle that has existed since women first joined the work force in the early 20th century. After almost one hundred years one would think that by 2016 this problem would be almost eradicated, especially in a first world country such as Canada. Unfortunately, this is far from the truth. In Canada, there is still a demonstrable difference in the gender pay gap, with women earning almost 20% less than men for doing similar or identical types of work. In this paper I am going to address why there is such a considerable wage gap between men and women in Canada. I will also evaluate some of the reasons that experts offer as to why this problem still in occurs in Canada. In addition, I will
Might I say, the country boasts its reputation for freedom and peace, despite the ongoing gender wage gap issue. This is one loose end for Canada. Nonetheless, if this were to happen based on race, that would be a violation of employment law in Canada “because it is considered racism...” But it is alright if a woman is discriminated and paid only 74 cents for every dollar a man makes, according to Pay Equity Commission, for the same occupation and the same amount of effort? Being racist is not okay but sexism is? We all know the “Women belong in the kitchen” stereotype. What a load of bullshit! One would say “you do not have to be a man to earn fortunes in a career,” oh wait, in this society, you kind of
Through in depth analysis of the Canadian Conservative Government, author Brianna Strumm showcases the overwhelming evidence of gender inequality occurring under Stephen Harper’s rule in her article Women in Harperland. This article raises questions in the areas of government, sexist discrimination in social infrastructure and the workplace, and the conservative views on women. I will analyze these questions and offer my own personal opinions on the content, amount of detail used, and whether or not the arguments made are beneficial to the article. Strumm takes a firm liberal stance on each issue presented, providing statistics and circumstances for each of her arguments. The strong evidence and even stronger point of view is crucial to the
1. “Why are gender and difference issues so important in understanding the potential for skills training and work and learning in both Canada and the ‘economic south’?”
Through the Contemporary Women’s Issues in Canada course, various topics related to gender inequality were discussed. Due to a long history, of sexism and misogyny in many aspects of Canadian society, outdated behaviours and thoughts have prevailed in many aspects of society. Three main topics that are central to achieving gender equality are gendered violence, gender roles and socialization, and child care.
In 1987 a pay equity act has been present in Canada, this act is used to prevent discrimination to women by requiring that employers that find that that female employees being paid less than male employees while performing the same job at the same skill level receive pay equal to the amount of the male counterpart. While having this act in place has not necessarily changed the story for women, in fact Canada’s position in the World Economic Forum gender-gap dropped 11 positions to 19th within the time range of 10 years, (Grant, 2015) and females in Canada are still earning 26 cents less for every dollar earned than males. (Moyser, 2017) The pay gap between men and women affect employers, employees, and society as a whole, as RBC predicts that
Ever since the 1929 Person’s case, women were recognized as equal in the eyes of the law and this was revolutionizing. This is the first time in Canadian history where a certain social group stood up for what they believed in because, women wanted to be treated as equals. In today 's society we do recognized women to be just as equal as men, but this does not pertain in Canada’s labor force because women are still being treated unfairly in regards to fair wages and the possibility of being able to work any job around Canada. Gender segregation in our labor market can be explained as, not being able to receive that same treatment as the opposite sex. This is because women are stereotypically looked at as a weaker gender; they expect women to work part time jobs, and the unfair wage gap between women and men.
Throughout history, discrimination has wielded its ugly head in many different forms. Things such as, but not limited to, race, religion, appearance, beliefs and gender have consistently oppressed minorities. A continual discrimination that the women of the world are dealing with takes place in what has been promised to be a fair and unprejudiced environment: the work place. This issue deals with women not being paid the same amount of money as men even though they may be equally, if not more so, trained, educated and qualified for jobs. This historically stems from women being the traditional ‘caregivers’ or ‘homemakers’ while men tended to be the ‘breadwinners’ of the household. This difference in pay based on gender is called the Gender Wage Gap. The Gender Wage Gap is the difference in working pay earned by men and then working pay earned by women. The conventional way to look at the gender wage gap is to compare full-time salaries earned by both of the genders. Up until the 1950’s, it was accepted that men and women were paid different amounts of money. Women were thought not to need to be paid as much as their male counterparts because they were not the “breadwinners” of the family. In the 1960’s, this all changed because people and unions from all across the country fought hard for the Equal Pay legislation. It is now part of the Canadian Human Rights act. Canadian law now requires employers to pay men and women the same pay for the same job and this is called “pay
“In November 2015, new PM Justin Trudeau made headlines around the world when he chose a cabinet made up of 50% women. Yet this in fact constituted only 30% of the women Liberal MP's elected in 2015. In the 2015 federal election, Canadians elected 88 female MP's, or 26% of all MP's in the House. But this represented only a 1% increase from 2011, when 25% of all MP's elected were women”. As from the analysis, PM Justin Trudeau seemed to have figured out gender gap. Till today participation of women in politics is low not only in Canada, but also in other countries. According to a data compiled by Inter-Parliamentary Union(IPU) Canada ranked 59 amongst the 193 countries. Canada remained constant when it comes to bridge the gender gap for a very
Gender inequality exists in Canadian society and forms part of its social organization. This inequality begins from conception where the behavior and personalities of children are shaped according to their gender. Gender inequality has a huge impact on the Canadian wealth distribution as men and women have different opportunities and face varying barriers to earning incomes and assets. The behavior and personalities that men are taught to have from their birth make them have more abilities and power than women in acquiring wealth. There have been efforts in addressing the gender inequality factor in the Canadian wealth distribution but the inequality persists (Fortin et al., 2012). Gender inequality negatively affects wealth distribution between Canadian men and women, and the best approach to address the gender inequality issue in the Canadian society is to have a different definition of gender inequality. For example, defining gender inequality as a product of various complex social forces.
Our society has the belief that women have always been portrayed as weak, emotional, and powerless. Throughout this article by Tavia Grant, it shows how women do not get the same opportunities men receive. Statistically shown, women are still earning less money than men regardless to the amount of education they possess (Grant). Women are accepted to hold obligations regarding family tasks while the men do the providing in the family. The article shows the disadvantages women have in Canada compared to men, however, it also shows gender inequality and gender discrimination.
She talks about how excited she is that there are three women on the supreme court. Women equality is growing, she is a law professor so when said that 50 percent of incoming law students are women you could see the glow in her face. Symbolically it’s an encouraging sign that it’s been steady for the past 10 years and we are improving social equality. Both of them thought that they wouldn't see a black president in their lifetime but it happened; they talked about could a women be chef justice or U.S. Supreme court, it’s already done in Canada, change is real and coming
Women experience inequality in nearly every aspect of their lives. Although many improvements have been made in the past few decades, there still remains a need for feminism in Canadian society; factors such as the industrial revolution, the glass ceiling and poverty have contributed to gender inequality within Canada today. There seem to be many misconceptions surrounding the intent and purpose of feminists, however, true feminism is simply defined as equal rights between men and women, thus resulting in complete equality. (115).