Wage gap between men and women in Ontario has not changed in 10 years, report finds

The wage gap between women and men has not budged in the last 10 years, says a new report from the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario.

“Ontario women continue to experience disparities in their wages,” says the report, released Tuesday. “The gender wage ratio, a measure of how much females earn per hour relative to their male counterparts, has not improved in Ontario over the past decade, hovering around $0.87. This means that women workers earn 87 cents for every dollar earned by men. The gender wage gap persists across all age groups and across all broad occupational categories.”

It goes on to say that “while the occupational composition of employed women explains some of the overall gender wage gap … this only accounts for two cents of the 13-cent gender wage gap. The remaining 11 cents of the gender wage gap is due to wage inequality within occupations, which is difficult to quantify but could be due to gender-based wage discrimination, or women’s selection of less demanding or more flexible work to accommodate family or caregiving responsibilities, among other factors.”

The report also details the “motherhood penalty” women experience after having children “and its measurable impacts on women with young children is an important part of evaluating gender equity policies such as subsidized child care.”

Ontario women are also “disproportionately represented in part-time jobs, and are under-represented in management positions despite having surpassed men in educational attainment,” the report, based on Statistics Canada data, says. “Some women also face a short-term ‘motherhood earnings penalty.’ Using new data for Ontario mothers across two cohorts (2003 and 2014), the FAO finds that after having a child, it takes Ontario mothers up to four years to return to their pre-childbirth earnings level.”

It also says while the new $10-a-day child care will see up to an estimated 100,000 women enter the labour market, more daycare spaces are needed in the province.

“While it is less clear if subsidized child care will improve the short-term earnings profile of mothers following childbirth, it is likely to improve female labour participation based on experiences observed elsewhere,” the report says. “Assuming the objectives set out in this bilateral agreement between Ontario and the federal government are met, the FAO estimates that subsidized child care fees in Ontario could increase the core-age female labour force participation rate from 84 per cent in 2022 to between 85.6 and 87.1 per cent by 2027. This would add 50,900 to 98,600 more women to Ontario’s labour force.”

Education Minister Stephen Lecce said the daycare plan “speaks to an overall strategy of increasing women’s labour market participation from 84 to around 87 per cent — so it’s moving in the right trajectory.”

He said part of the agreement with the federal government “was a recognition that the federal dollars will be insufficient to meet the needs of growing demand. And it’s why Ontario was able to extract an additional year of funding guarantees and an additional billion dollars,” he added.

He noted that daycare fees in the province have already been reduced by about 50 per cent.

“We’re making a difference and more women are working today, as noted in the FAO report,” Lecce said. “That is progress, and we’ll continue to work collaboratively with the federal government to make the case for more investments so we can meet the needs of more moms and dads in Ontario and get more women working in the economy.”

However, Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said “although decades of feminist advocacy have made great gains when it comes to women’s participation in the workforce, it’s clear that Ontario has so much further to go … It’s clear that our province is still failing women, especially mothers.”

Schreiner said “women should not have to accept a decline in wages simply for taking parental leave. They shouldn’t be under-represented in management positions and overrepresented in part-time work.”

He called on the government to provide funding to hire more child-care workers and boost their pay.

“Ontario needs an equitable labour market,” he also said. “And to get there, we must guarantee affordable and accessible child care.”

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