November 21, 1996 was a milestone. It is indeed the day when the parliamentarians of the National Assembly unanimously adopted the Pay Equity Act. It aimed to reduce the inequalities between the remuneration of predominantly female job categories and that of predominantly male categories.
For 25 years now, this law, which had placed Quebec at the forefront on the international level, has made it possible to improve the working conditions of Quebec women by recognizing their work at its true value. According to the CNESST, when it came into force in 1997, the pay gap between men and women stood at 15.8% in Quebec. In 2020, this gap was reduced to 8.1%.
Even if this law has made a concrete contribution to better gender equity at work, there is still some way to go. Moreover, the FTQ, the CSN and the CSQ recalled that in 2015, racialized Canadian women earned 59 cents for every dollar earned by non-racialized men.
Under-representation of women
Beyond the pay gap, we must also tackle the famous “glass ceiling” which is still resisting, still too often preventing women from advancing their careers or accessing high responsibilities at the same pace as men.
In 2018, according to Statistics Canada, 5,128 women sat on a board of directors, which represented 18.3% of all directors, compared to 17.9% the previous year and 17.8% for 2016. Despite a slow but positive trend, we are still far from the parity zone.
For organizations, parity, like diversity in all its forms, brings its share of benefits. It has a positive influence on the work environment, offers a diversity of points of view in terms of governance and makes it possible, in particular, to seize new business opportunities.
However, there are still several professional fields where women are clearly under-represented.
And sometimes that under-representation stems from the choices women make, or don’t make, in their careers. Take the engineering community for example. This field is at the forefront of the various advances, technological and social trends that we are experiencing. Yet women currently only account for 15.3% of engineers in the province, according to the Office des professions du Québec.
However, the under-representation of women in managerial positions is not always explained by career choices; Despite their higher proportion in several fields at university, women made up only 18.2% of senior executives in Canadian public companies in 2021, according to an Osler report.
Advance reflection
The 25the anniversary of the Pay Equity Act is an opportunity to explore avenues for a supply of fresh air in terms of equity and diversity within organizations.
Among other things, deploy training for both employees and managers to counter stereotypes and potential discriminatory biases with a view to achieving greater openness to diversity.
The enhancement of human and interpersonal skills as a factor in hiring and promoting leadership positions would also be a strong means, not only of ensuring the professional advancement of women, but also of creating increasingly healthy workplaces. , inclusive and collaborative.
The adoption of the Pay Equity Act is an important milestone in the history of Quebec which made it possible to integrate this notion into our collective values.
Sound 25e anniversary is the perfect time to think deeply about the upcoming challenges that will allow us as a company to stay at the forefront of the best in terms of diversity and equity in the workplace.
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