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Queer Ontario Supports Ending Gender Pay Gap

August 2nd, 2017

Queer Ontario Supports Ending Gender Pay Gap: Calls on Provincial Government to Provide Pay Transparency on Variety of Genders

Toronto:  Queer Ontario would like to see an end to the gender pay gap in this province, not only for the binary females and males, but for all varied genders and sexual orientations.

The gender pay gap between women and men barely narrowed in the past 30 years.  The pay gap currently stands at 30% in Ontario.  This rate worsens when racialized status and origin is factored in.  For indigenous women the pay gap stands at 57%.[1]

Research indicates how women are disproportionately affected by the gender wage gap, due to being in low-wage jobs, many in the caregiving sector, and/or part-time, precarious work.

These abysmal pay gap rates in today’s Ontario persist despite the existence of the Ontario Pay Equity Act instituted three decades ago.  Over this time the Pay Equity Commission has experienced major funding cuts resulting in poor oversight of employers’ compliance with pay equity.  More than half of employers violated pay equity laws in 2013-14, according to the Commission’s own statistics.

Data regarding LGBTQs in the labour market are much more difficult to come by, with many in these communities being relegated to the hidden poor.   Lesbian and bisexual women face many barriers in the workplace, particularly in male-dominated work settings.  Trans women experience numerous forms of discrimination in accessing and maintaining employment.  Both gender variance and sexual orientation are additional barriers faced by LGBTQ people in accessing, obtaining and maintaining employment, not to mention recognition and promotion.

Queer Ontario urges the provincial Liberal government to make movement on its gender wage gap initiative launched last fall at the Ministry of Labour and in doing so, to not limit its scope to the female/male gender binary.  Queer Ontario calls upon the provincial government’s Ministry of Labour to undertake its initiative to make the gender pay gap transparent in this province in a way that is consistent with the Ontario Human Rights Code that recognizes sexual orientation and gender identity and expression.

Queer Ontario is a provincial network of gender and sexually diverse individuals — and their allies — who are committed to questioning, challenging, and reforming the laws, institutional practices, and social norms that regulate queer people. Operating under liberationist and sex-positive principles, we fight for accessibility, recognition, and pluralism, using social media and other tactics to engage in political action, public education, and coalition building.

Interviews:

Nick Mulé

Member at Large,

Queer Ontario

nickjmule@gmail.com

416.979.2783

[1] Mojtehedzadeh, Sara. (2017, April 11). Ontario urged to tackle gender pay gap with transparency law. The Toronto Star. Retrieved from https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/04/11/ontario-urgently-needs-pay-transparency-law-advocates-say.html

 

Queer Ontario – Gender Pay Gap Statement

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