Report cites female workers' remarkable recovery from pandemic, urges more steps and policies for support
In line with the celebration of International Women’s Month, which will last until March 31, RBC Economics released a report to highlight how working women in Canada have made a comeback from their pandemic struggles and the ways to continuously help them advance in a post-pandemic economy.
According to the report, if women's pay in comparable jobs were equal to men's, Canadian household income would increase by $18 billion, or 1.5 percent. Returning to business as usual, however, will not be enough to get the country there.
Even while a strategy on affordable childcare introduced by Ottawa has a positive impact on the economy, several long-standing concerns require continued attention, the report said. These include expanding upskilling possibilities, attracting more women to skilled trades, and establishing avenues for women to advance to senior positions.
Women's labor force participation rate rose dramatically after dropping to a three-decade low at the start of the crisis. Even so, there is a nearly 8% differential in participation rates between working-age men and women, a gap that is twice as wide for parents with small children.
While more women are working in higher-paying fields, the income gap between men and women has remained practically unchanged since the outbreak, according to the report. Mothers of peak working age (ages 25-54) account for most of the salary disparity. For every dollar made by fathers with children under the age of six, women with small children under the age of six earned 87 cents.
The gap widens as children grow older, the report said. Women with children aged 6 to 12 earned 82 cents for every dollar earned by men with the same age group of children. That earnings penalty for women, which the report also referred to as a “Baby Penalty,” extends well beyond a child's first few years of life. On the other hand, for men, having children is linked to increased incomes.
A disparity also occurs for women without children, though it is narrower. For every dollar earned by men without children, women from that cohort received 93 cents, the report said.
During the pandemic, more women have entered higher-paying areas such as finance, insurance, and real estate, as well as professional, scientific, and technical services. However, since more males have entered these fields, women's representation has not changed significantly; women still make up only 43% of individuals working in professional, scientific, and technical services. They also have yet to make significant progress in top leadership positions, RBC said notably in the private sector.
“Affordable childcare options alongside greater workplace flexibility have been shown to boost women’s labour force participation,” RBC said, citing improvements observed in Quebec after the province enacted its Family Policy. “[T]he federal government’s affordable childcare policy is poised to reduce childcare fees for the average family by 50% by the end of 2022.
The report said more must be done to even the playing field for women. Exploring measures to improve maternity and paternal leave parity might assist to alleviate the problem. Furthermore, the report suggested lowering the cost of parental leave may encourage more fathers to take time off.
It also suggested other ways to narrow the gap, including promoting their participation in traditionally male-dominated trades, and removing obstacles to adult education to help women upgrade their skills for senior and managerial roles.
