Gender Inequality In Canada

A human beings sex is their biological difference; either male or female, while gender is a learned behavioral and natural development with a person’s personality. In this world, and in Canada, gender inequality is an issue that continues to plague our homes, schools, workplaces, and our society in general. Gender equality is detrimental for our society to function in an inclusive, safe, and just way. While Canada strives to make multiculturalism and a generalized diversity another key asset to all whom reside in this country, gender inequality is an issue that affects many aspects of women’s lives. From inequality in pay equity, reproductive rights, domestic and sexual violence, sexism and sex-role stereotyping, to women's representation in

government, gender inequality is an undying injustice in society. Women are paid less than men, are less likely to be promoted to higher positions than men, and 1.5 million women live in low-income housing, poverty and homelessness.
Gender based pay inequality is not a new issue in Canada and in the world. When a man makes a dollar, a women doing the same job will earn 80 cents. This 20% gender wage gap exists in almost every existing occupation in the world. The gender wage gap is due to job segregation based on gender, a distribution of jobs by employers that give undervalued jobs to women instead of allowing them the same opportunities as equally qualified men. The discrimination in pay as well as hiring is mostly gender based; however it also is pertinent to racial and cultural minorities. While this form of inequality may be seen as a minor problem, the affected women’s families, children, and significant others will also suffer from this. A man and a woman with the same bachelor’s degree, job and lifestyle will have significantly “women in Canada still perform nearly twice as many hours of unpaid work each day as do men” (Oxfam Canada, 6). This amount of money could have financed a home, vehicle, medical expenses (countries without free health care, benefits.), a college/ university education, or could have been invested into retirement funds. The gender wage gap has been known to Canadians and globally for years, and yet women continue to make less than men do. In the workplace, aside from being paid unjustly, women also face promotional/ hiring inequality.
While in almost every business place, men and women have the same work positions, women are 15% less likely to be promoted, or hired than men.

“Gender inequality exacerbates economic inequality and economic inequality, in turn, reinforces gender inequality” (Oxfam Canada, 3). Primarily due to sexist assumptions about a women’s emotions, her choice to start family’s mid-career, and her ability to perform tasks as efficiently/ well as men are constant. Emotional stereotypes about women would be things such as: women are overly emotional, sadness, guiltiness, shamefulness, irritability, and fearfulness. These assumptions are made on a daily basis by men who face quite the opposite preconceptions. Men are characterized to be similar to a leader because of their “assertiveness” and, “controlled emotions” . Women also are also the sex that carry children, and require maternity leave, even though paternal leave also exists. Employers are often reluctant to hire women by the chance they will become pregnant and need to be on leave for a year on the company’s dollar. While women are 15% more interested in being promoted or taking on a larger responsibility within the workplace, men take up more than 95% of Fortune 500 CEOs. This goes to show that regardless of the interest, demand, and effort women put in to be promoted, the men will almost always receive the position. Both due to the wage gap and the difficulty women have to be promoted to higher positions, poverty affects a

significant amount of Canadian women.
About 1 in 10 people in Canada are living below the low-income cut-off and more than 1.5 million women in Canada are living on a low income. Groups of women such as disabled, aboriginal, single, or senior are at higher risk for poverty. While the causes of poverty in women are not directly related to age/ race, it affects the minority groups of women primarily. There are not enough available jobs for minorities within the category of women without degrees to make a substantial enough income to lift themselves out of poverty. Along with other factors such as personal circumstance and parenthood, women in general are set up for poverty as the wage gap, as well as the likelihood of being promoted to a higher paying job is low.
“In periods of economic recession, women have inadequate support. Canadian women
have consistently less access to employment insurance than men because they work
fewer hours on average and are therefore less likely to meet the threshold of hours
required to qualify for coverage. Women who do access employment insurance see
smaller benefits at the end of the month because benefits are tied to wages, which are
still lower than men’s.23 The result is a cycle in which women cannot afford to wait for
more secure, better paying jobs, but are forced by economic necessity to take the first
job available, however low wage or precarious.” (B. Lambert, K. McInturf, Oxfam Canada, March 2016)
The available resources to help women in these circumstances are few and oftentimes nothing they have not already attempted on their own such as budgeting or investing their money.
In Canada, where multiculturalism and diversity is promoted to be a bonus to living in these lands, the gender inequality that separates a man and women’s rights inhibits a nationwide ability to coexist in equality.

Gender equality is detrimental for our society to function in an inclusive, safe, and just way. The wage gap that ensures women are paid much less per lifetime than men, the stereotypes and sexist thoughts making advancement in their workplaces and the poverty both the other two help cause, is what gender inequality for women is. The unfairness and the transgression against women, if stopped and corrected could set Canada now, apart from a Canada with equality to succeed, the chance to achieve and the ability for both men and women to have the same opportunities,

equality.