This text is part of the special Syndicalism booklet
Roses in hand, hundreds of Quebec women marched 200 kilometers against poverty and raised demands for greater equality between men and women. Following the Bread and Roses March of 1995, several demands, such as pay equity, made their place on the political level. And in 1996, the Pay Equity Act was unanimously adopted by the National Assembly, allowing the establishment of mechanisms to enforce the principle of “equivalent work, equal pay”.
Today, the wage gap between Quebec men and women is lower than that of several countries such as the Netherlands, Iceland, Germany, Austria or the United States, informs us the Commission des Standards, Equity, Occupational Health and Safety (CNESST) in a message sent by e-mail.
“It is an extremely innovative law, it is a proactive, enforcement law, which recognizes that there are negative stereotypes with regard to female work”, underlines politician and feminist Louise Harel in a virtual panel. of the CNESST on the 25 years of the Act, held on March 8. The former minister, who tabled the bill in 1996, remembers having delivered it personally to a few speakers of parliament in South Africa and to the United Nations. “The law on pay equity has made women take giant steps in the labor market, but the fight is not over and I am convinced that we are still capable of carrying it out,” she observes.
A long way to go
For every dollar earned by a white man in Canada, a racialized woman earned an average of 59 cents in 2015, recalls the Quebec Federation of Labor (FTQ) on its website. “I believe that the situation for racialized women is absolutely worrying and something very concrete must be done, hence the idea of integrating the notion of diversity [dans la loi], insists Manon Poirier, Executive Director of the Order of Certified Human Resources Advisors (CRHA). It would be a way forward to broaden the notion of pay equity and ensure that certain parameters of cultural or ethnic origin are taken into account. »
” It’s necessary [aussi] seeing the limits of the law is more difficult for professions that are typically female, continues Manon Poirier. There is always an undervaluation of certain so-called “feminine” skills, positions where one is in a helping relationship, where one takes care of, nurses, education: these are typically female professions, with a very high percentage . The director of the CRHA illustrates that the salary of teachers in Quebec is the lowest recorded in all the Canadian provinces, while that of daycare educators is generally lower than that of manual workers with no specific training.
To remedy the inequities, the CNESST has implemented an Immigration Strategy in 2020 which works with immigrants and foreign workers as well as their employers to make them aware of their rights and responsibilities. The organization also pursues awareness and training activities on pay equity. Training is offered in particular to students in programs leading to typically female jobs in the field of management. Webinars, online training and telephone support are offered to support businesses and employees in law enforcement.
“We must continue to have this law and the means to enforce it,” believes Manon Poirier. She adds that micro-tweaks could further improve enforcement, such as grants allowing companies to hire an enforcement specialist to ensure fairness in their environment. “When women are in a position of power or decision-making, they will necessarily pay more particular attention to the place of women, their role and their remuneration, she supposes. I think there is a movement in society, with women taking their place. »