Sue
Genge Responds to Edmonton Sun column
Despair
over cuts to women's groups
September 26, 2006
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Response from Sue Genge to article Despair over cuts to women's groups
September 26, 2006
I read and disagree with much of Ms. Jacobs' article. But, in particular, I thought she should be clear that when women's organizations talk about the wage gap, we are not talking about the difference between men in highly skilled and higly paid professions vs women in low skilled and low paid professions. In particular, I'm refering to the following assertion in her article.
"The paper harps about the ongoing pay gap between men and women, without pointing out that men tend to choose higher-paying jobs because they're socialized to be the breadwinners.
It's disingenuous to complain that women working full time only earn about 70 cents for every dollar men make if you've deliberately chosen to work as, say, a low-paid restaurant hostess."
I've forwarded the attached Chapter 1 - Wage Inequities from the 2004 Pay Equity Task Force Report. If you consult Table 1:4 and Table 1:5 you will see a number of interesting and telling facts, based on Statistics Canada data. One, women are concentrated in lower paid occupations, which you will undoubtedly attribute to life choices. We will have to disagree about how much real choice many women have in our society. The other fact you should notice is that within each broadly defined occupational category, without exception, there is a significant gap between the wages of men and women ... the only "profession" where women earn more than men is as "babysitters, nannies and parent's helpers".
The wage gap is a persistent problem for women in Canada. Pay equity is one solution; Head Start programs, affordable housing and retraining grants are others, employment equity programs are yet another. All of these solutions are necessary approaches to an ongoing problem....but, let us first admit that there is a problem.
The
link to the Chapter is below.
http://www.justice.gc.ca/en/payeqsal/6005.html
Sue
Genge
National Representative
Canadian Labour Congress
Member Pay Equity Network
Despair over cuts
to women's groups
by Mindelle Jacobs, Edmonton Sun, Sept. 24, 2006
The way critics are wailing over possible cuts to women's programs, you'd think the Harper government was preparing to force females into burkas.
One group, the National Association of Women and the Law, closed down earlier this month because it didn't get federal funding.
The little-known Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action thought it was going to have to close last week. But its grant application was approved on Thursday, it announced on its website.
So much for those women-bashing Tories, eh?
Still, the movers
and shakers in the women's movement are waiting with baited breath to
see if Status of Women Canada, a federal agency that bankrolls women's
groups and promotes gender equality, is on the chopping
block.
If it gets the boot, will the rights of Canadian women be in danger? Will their life choices be curtailed? Hardly. Women in this country are better off than ever before.
This endless quest for gender equality is quite tiresome at a time when virtually all the significant barriers to women's accomplishment have been smashed.
Read full article
at: www.edmontonsun.com/News/Columnists/Jacobs_Mindelle/2006/09/24/1888704.html
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