Canadian women make nearly a quarter less than men as gender bias persists.
Canadian working women report earning almost a quarter less than male counterparts despite strides by women in attaining education and acceptance in higher-paying professions, a new pay equity study shows.
Women took home an average pre-tax salary of $51,352 in 2019 compared with $67,704 for men—a 24% gap, according to 755 working men and women surveyed this year by Leger Research for a study commissioned by ADP LLC, which provides human resources management software and services. The report came out ahead of International Women’s Day, which took place March 8.
Men received more than twice the additional compensation of bonuses or profit sharing than women—$7,646 vs $3,250, according to the survey.
The study wasn’t geared to finding out why the pay gap persists, but a Statistics Canada study last year found that the distribution of women and men across industries, such as the greater number of men in higher-paying science- and finance-related jobs, and women’s over representation in part-time work were the two main factors. However, nearly two thirds of the gap was unexplained, and could be down to work experience and gender bias.
Government statistics show that the hourly wage gap disparity narrowed to about 13% in 2018 from about 19% in 1998, largely because of increased education attained by women, their penetration into more industries, and the decline of men in unionized jobs.
Still, Canada’s gender wage gap in 2018 ranked 5th largest among 29 countries at 18.5%, according to a survey by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. South Korea, Japan, Israel and the United States had the highest disparities, while Belgium, Greece and Costa Rica had the lowest.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the research found men (79%) are more likely than women (67%) to believe their organization is working hard to promote pay equity. Men were also more optimistic that Canada would achieve pay equity during their careers: 53% vs 40% of women.
The study also suggested future executives strongly support pay equity, with millennials being the most likely to exit companies that aren’t achieving it.
