By the Numbers: Pay equity and the gender wage gap

Toronto – March 13, 2017 – It's no secret that gender wage parity is not yet the norm in Canada. Women working full-time earn an average of 30 percent less than their male peers do, and are also more likely to earn incomes that put them below the poverty line.

1 in 3

Nearly one-third of all working women in Canada earn less than $15 per hour. By comparison, only one in five men earn the same rate.    

74.2

Women working full-time in Canada still earn 74.2 cents for every dollar that full-time male workers earn.

1981

Thirty-six years ago, an article appearing in the Medicine Hat News predicted that Canada would achieve gender equality in wages by the year 2017.

170

Today, the World Economic Forum predicts that it will take 170 years for the global gender wage gap to close.

Despite the fact that women are achieving higher educational levels than men, full-time work has stagnated in Canada, and women find themselves disproportionately represented in low-wage jobs.

8

Combined, the eight richest men in the world have the same wealth as the poorest half of all humanity.

2

In Canada, the two wealthiest billionaires own as much wealth as the poorest 30% of Canadians.

50%

Since the turn of the century, the poorest half of the world's population has received only a 1% increase in global wealth, while the wealth of the top 1% has skyrocketed by more than half.

35

Canada has fallen 16 places in the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap ranking report, from 19th place in 2015 to 35th place in 2016.

Sources: "Who's minding the gap?", The Globe and Mail, 2017. "Time to turn feminist words into action", OXFAM Canada, 2017. "Global Gender Gap Index 2016", World Economic Forum, 2016. "Making women count", Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2016. "Equality in wages by the year 2017", Medicine Hat News, 1981.