Nina Hansen: Women in B.C., on average, earn 18.9 per cent less than men
Credit to Author: Stephen Snelgrove| Date: Sat, 19 Oct 2019 01:00:12 +0000
Anecdotal accounts are funny things.
On the one hand, a personal story has considerable merit in that someone is sharing something they heard, saw or experienced firsthand. If that person appears genuine and credible, the story is taken as the truth. But on the other hand, anecdotal accounts can blanket the facts with a cloudy lens.
In my line of work, as an advocate for workers in general and for tradeswomen in particular, I’m often drawn into conversations in which someone surmises that there is no longer a gender wage gap in Canada. How do they know? Well, they’ve observed this themselves, working side by side with women earning exactly the same salary as the men on the job. I’ve heard this from men and women, alike.
They may then point to a female CEO or the female head of a large association and claim that, hey, these women broke through that darned glass ceiling, so therefore anyone can do it.
While I’m the first to trumpet that yes, women can do anything, I cannot concede that women in Canada have wage equality with men, and it turns out that Statistics Canada agrees with me. According to a report released Oct. 7, women in Canada still earn an average of 13.3 per cent less per hour than men. Women in B.C. are even worse off than the average Canadian woman, earning 18.9 per cent less per hour than men.
The study found that gender differences in occupation and industry were large factors in explaining the wage gap. For example, we have a major skilled trades shortage in this country, and employment in the construction sector has thus increased over the past decade. Unions, industry, government and post-secondary institutions have all placed a heavy focus on recruitment, and it’s been paying off. But women still represent less than five per cent of workers in this sector, which means that in the end, construction has contributed to the gender wage gap.
At the B.C. Centre for Women in the Trades, we’re trying to change that. Established as a two-year pilot program in 2017, our centre’s objective is to increase the retention and advancement of women in the trades with targeted supports within companies and through mentorships by other women to address the numerous challenges women face.
Trades jobs in B.C. offer high wages, advancement opportunities and, in today’s economic climate, employment security. In any other field, that might be enough to attract women into the sector, yet it isn’t enough in construction. Research, not anecdotal evidence, shows us that women face systemic barriers and challenges to their success in the trades, including limited access to sanitary toilets, an inability to find protective clothing that fits, bullying, harassment, discrimination and exclusion. This is true at every level of their careers, from the start of their apprenticeship to — if they get there — achievement of their trades qualification or Red Seal.
So how can we attract and keep more women in the trades and close the gender wage gap in our province? Simply said but harder to do: change the culture of construction. This requires a 360-degree commitment from industry to foster gender-inclusive workplaces.
It’s no small feat, and it starts with acknowledging the barriers that have kept women out of highly paid construction careers for decades.
We don’t need any more proof that these barriers exist; we need these barriers decreased and ultimately eliminated.
Finally, to all the women out there who have been fighting for wage equality for their entire working lives, thank you. Please keep fighting, because obviously we still have a lot of work to do. And that’s a statistical fact.
Nina Hansen is the executive director of the B.C. Centre for Women in the Trades. It is funded by the Canada-B.C. Workforce Development Agreement as well as industry and labour partners.
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