Being made to wear skimpy uniforms and vertigo inducing high heels to work on your feet for eight or more hours a day is the story of many women in the serving industry. With the spotlight shining on businesses that force their female employees to work in these uncomfortable positions and a new report showing a considerable wage gap between men and women, it’s hard to imagine the pioneering women who lobbied for the right to vote would be pleased with the current working conditions for women.
The report, Equal Worth, authored by Kathleen Lahey of the Parkland Institute, found women in Alberta earn considerably less than their male colleagues. Many attribute this gap to those women who stay at home to look after children or who work on a flexible basis to ensure their childcare needs are met. On the contrary, the report found that women working fulltime earned an average of $31,000 less than their male colleagues.
Dr. Carol Williams is an associate professor in women and gender studies at the University of Lethbridge and says she finds disparity amongst women here in southern Alberta. One of the courses she teaches looks at women’s labour and the sexual division of labour.
“We look at how occupationally women have been sort of rooted into more maternal activities or jobs that are an extension of their domestic abilities. So I also emphasize the emergence of what I call the breadwinner wage which in a sense is the origin of paying women lesser wages,” said Williams.
Cheryl Dick is the managing director of local architectural firm FWBA and was the CEO of Economic Development Lethbridge for 10 years. Speaking to the wage gap amongst men and women, Dick says that it’s important for women to keep in mind that hard work and holding your own will always pay off in the end.
“I don’t know at any given point in my career whether there was a big gap or not because I was being treated respectfully and I was working hard so I was being rewarded for that hard work,” said Dick. “That to me has been my approach to how I’ve worked through the corporations I’ve worked in. I’ve worked in oil and gas and the airline industry and media and I always have been of the belief that if I am earning recognition through my work because I’m doing good quality work and I am probably being paid commensurably,” said Dick.
At an event reflecting on the plight of women’s suffrage in Canada this past Sunday at the Galt Museum and Archives, Dr. Sarah Carter, professor at the faculty of native studies of the University of Alberta spoke to the injustices Canadian women faced while trying to establish a voice in government.
“There were many obstacles and a lot of resistance in the campaign. There were many men and women who needed to be won over in favour of the cause,” said Carter. “In the academic world and beyond, this generation of feminists did not fare well in the last few decades. Around the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s they were celebrated for combatting injustice and being very progressive, but by a later generation of historians and activists they were dismissed or discredited.”
April marks the 100-year anniversary of women having a vote in Canada and while we have come a long way in giving women a voice and a platform on which to be heard, it appears we still have a long way to go in paying them an equal wage for doing an equal job.
The crowd of women listen as Dr. Susan Carter discusses the history of the women’s suffrage movement in Canada at the Galt Museum and Archives on March 13.
Dr. Carol Williams chats with attendees of the women’s suffrage discussion at the Galt Museum and Archives on March 13.
Women’s suffrage discussion at the Galt Museum and Archives on March 13.
