GRSJ224/FeminismandWorkDiscrimination

Introduction of the Issue

Currently, there are still a significant difference between the wage gaps, and discriminations that women are faced in the work field. This includes sexual harassment, as well as wage inequality and many factors that may contribute to this. In this section, it will focus on the statistics between the wage gap in Canada, as well as speculated factors and discrimination that women face, as well as statistic reports of sexual harassment that female faces in Canada.

The Small Rise in Females Holding Higher Occupational Roles

According to CBC News, women holds around eight-point five percent of Canada's top occupations. This number is almost double compared to reports made in 2006. With this number, it is roughly forty-five women in high occupational positions such as vice president for companies, chiefs, executive, as well as CEO positions. This drastic change is due to many factors that allowed women to participate in the workforce. Between 1953 to 1990, there was an increase of twenty four percent to seventy six percent of women entering the workforce according to Statistics Canada. A factor for this increase is that there as a technological advancement in electronic household items which made it more efficient for females to distribute their time now. Another contributing factor is due to the fact that social norm started to allow women to join roles, and vote. This wave to fight for gender equality has encouraged females to join the workforce. Due to the drastic increment, there has also been a rise in median annual income salary for women and has doubled from mid 1960's to early 2010.

Responsibilities that factors in: Role Conflict

Women are often hired for part time positions and their resume are often reconsidered due to the fact that child care comes in play. Many companies factor in maternity leave when they select their new CEO or higher management roles. Women are less likely to be hired with a rate of seventy-seven-point five percent compared to men with an eighty-five-point three percent according to Statistics Canada. They are often hired as part times because they have maternal responsibilities that comes in, and this is still a subtle discrimination that they face due to their gender, and they will require a therefore human resource tend to look for a candidate who is able to take on the hours and responsibilities.

The Pay Gap of Women in the Workplace

Despite the fact that there is an increase in female participation in the workforce, there is still a gap between the wages for each gender. Women generally makes eighty-seven cents for every dollar a male makes according to Statistics Canada for 2015. This ratio has also increased a bit due to the fact that women are attaining more credential like a bachelor degree. Even with this, the gap is currently at ninety cents per every dollar a male makes in Canada which shows that credentials don’t fully solve the problem for gender inequality wage gap. Some factors that may explain this gap is that there is still a high percentage of fifty-six-point one percent of women dominating traditional "female" occupations such as nursing, teaching, social work, sales administrator, compared to seventeen points two for males. This percent has also increased for males because they are slowly participating in these "female" traditional occupations due to social norms accepting this. These traditional occupations are often looked as labor work, and doesn’t require much skill or credential therefore there hasn’t been a significant raise in salary for these occupations. Paul Allison of the University of Pennsylvania and Asif Levanon of the University of Haifa, England has done a study about the gender wage gap. Through tangible evidence, they speculate that women aren’t capable of taking on these lucrative occupations, or that they aren’t choosing to but when a job is dominated by women, it’s just not seen as critical, and therefore employers may pay less, even if it requires the same skill set and education.

Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

Over ninety percent of women in the workforce have reported of being sexually assaulted by a coworker, or a boss according to Canadian Labor Relations. Young women between the ages of eighteen to twenty-four years old make up ten percent of the statistic. This rate is also evident with single women compared to married women who experiences sexual harassments. There have been laws such as the Canadian Human Rights Act and Canada Labor Code which protects citizens from being sexually harassed. Even with these laws, there has been reports that about seventy five percent of workplace harassment experiences retaliation after they speak up about this issue and bring it forward according to Tara Golshan on her Vox’s article. With these brutal retaliation and threats, they have alarmed many women to keep this problem a secret or to brush it aside. This issue also sparked many feminist groups to create a movement and tackle this conundrum.

References

Canada, G. O. (2017, March 09). Women in Canada: A Gender-based Statistical Report Women and Paid Work Women and Paid Work. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/89-503

Canada, G. O. (2017, March 03). The surge of women in the workforce. Retrieved from https://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/11-630-x/11-630-x2015009-eng.html

Golshan, T. (2017, October 15). Study finds 75 percent of workplace harassment victims experienced retaliation when they spoke up. https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/10/15/16438750/weinstein-sexual-harassment-facts

News, C. (2015, March 19). Women now hold 8.5% of Canada's top jobs from http://www.cbc.ca/news /business/women-now-hold-8-5-of-canada-s-top-jobs-1.3001744

Sexual Harassment in the Workplace. http://www.canadianlabourrelations.com/sexual-harassment-in-the-workplace.html

Statistic Overview (2017, October 18). Statistical Overview of Women in the Workforce from http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/statistical-overview-women-workforce

The Facts About the Gender Wage Gap in Canada. http://www.canadianwomen.org/facts-about-the-gender-wage-gap-in-canada

The Simple Truth about the Gender Pay Gap. (n.d.) https://www.aauw.org/research/the-simple-truth-about-the-gender-pay-gap/