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By Burnaby-North MLA Janet Routledge

Sound Off

SOUND OFF: Addressing the causes of B.C.’s gender wage gap

May 4, 2022 | 10:40 AM

WHAT ARE THE CHANCES that a woman earns less than the men in her life — her partner, her son, her co-worker? In fact, no matter where you live, where you work, or how much experience and education you bring to the job, women workers tend to earn less than men.

For every dollar a man earns in B.C., a woman earns 86 cents. The gap is even bigger for Indigenous and racialized women, newcomers to Canada and women living with a disability, while Two Spirit, nonbinary and transgender people also face barriers that others do not.

In many cases, women earn less than men because their work is undervalued. The five Cs — caring, clerical, catering, cashiering and cleaning — are occupations dominated by women. While this work is essential to our daily lives, it is often considered less skilled and therefore pays lower wages. Women are also paid less than their male counterparts because of systemic discrimination in the workplace.

Some women may not even know that they are earning less. Keeping your salary secret is part of the culture in many non-union workplaces.

One of my first jobs was at a department store. I still remember my shock when I found out by accident that one of my new male colleagues was being paid more per hour than the experienced woman who trained him, and she got fired for spilling the beans. Legislated pay transparency would have helped, and a union would’ve helped even more.

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This spring, we’ll begin consultations to develop pay transparency legislation for B.C., led by Parliamentary Secretary Grace Lore. At the same time, we are tackling systemic discrimination in the workplace by investing in child care, education and skills training, and increasing the minimum wage.

We know that making child care more affordable will have a huge impact on the gender wage gap. Stats Canada found that the gap is largest where child care is most expensive. I don’t think that is a coincidence. Quebec has publicly funded child care and a gender wage gap of just eight cents compared to B.C.’s 14.

When New Democrats formed government in 2017, we inherited a system in B.C. that treated child care as a luxury. We are changing that. With record investments in child care, we will see the average cost of care for kids under six reduced by 50 per cent by the end of this year.

Community benefits agreements encourage women to apply for good-paying jobs in the skilled trades. By introducing skilled trades certification, we are raising wages in the trades and ensuring workers have formal recognition of their skills. Together, these changes are making it easier for women to enter the skilled trades and have successful careers.

Raising the minimum wage also helps close the gap for the 60 per cent of minimum-wage earners who are women. In 2017, B.C. had one of the lowest minimum wages in the country. It is now the highest, and future increases will be tied to inflation. In 2021 we also eliminated the lower liquor server wage, which unfairly underpaid the 80 percent of liquor servers who are women. As a result of these measures, the average wage of women in B.C. has increased more than in any other province.

There’s so much more we can do to close the gap. In the future, I hope our actions to address the gender wage gap will ensure that women’s labour is not undervalued.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.