Status of Women Committee on May 14th, 2014

[Stella Ambler, Conservative, Mississauga South, ON]

Oh, I see.

[Seema Lamba]

—because there is a wage gap. Thirty-three per cent of women are unionized. The Canadian Labour Congress did this study, based on Statistics Canada 2012 data, I believe.

[Stella Ambler, Conservative, Mississauga South, ON]

Yes.

[Seema Lamba]

It actually shows that unionized women earn $6.65 more per hour than women not in a union. As a result, they figured out that $552.5 million per week goes into women's pockets to be used for other things.

The average wage for a unionized woman is $26.32. The average wage for women without a union is $19.16.

What is significant is that unionized women make 84% of what men make, and non-unionized women make 70% of what men make in similar settings.

So there is a significant wage gap.

[Stella Ambler, Conservative, Mississauga South, ON]

More women are unionized because more women are in the public sector. That's a broad, general statement. Would you agree with it? I think that's what we heard from Stats Canada. I'm just wondering—

[Seema Lamba]

That is what they said.

[Robyn Benson]

Yes, well that might be what they said, but we have probably about 120,000 or so that would be in Treasury Board agencies, and 60% of those individuals were women. But I can't speak for the rest of the workforce—

[Stella Ambler, Conservative, Mississauga South, ON]

Right.

[Robyn Benson]

—within that armed forces, RCMP, etc., that would be government, if you will.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Thank you very much.

Mrs. Sellah, did you want to share your floor time?

Ms. Ashton, over to you.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill, MB]

First off, I'd like to thank you very much for coming today and thank you very much for making very clear recommendations to our committee.

I have a couple of quick questions and then I'll ask my colleague to continue. We're looking at the barriers to women's prosperity in the country. We heard from Kate McInturff from the CCPA, who did a study of communities, cities, that found that where there was a high number of women working in the public sector and high unionization among women, these were better cities for women to live in. Would you agree that unionization and public sector opportunities for women are key factors in enhancing the prosperity of women?

[Seema Lamba]

Well, unionization does, for sure, because it's just the basic fact that they have somebody there to represent them, whether they're experiencing harassment or discrimination, which can actually prevent them from prospering because they leave the workforce if they're experiencing that. So they can actually have certain workplace issues resolved through unionization, and prosper. As well, it's whatever is negotiated, those working conditions and benefits like pensions or whatever. So, for sure.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill, MB]

We know there's a dearth of advocacy voices on women's issues as a result of government cuts over the last few years. We know PSAC is one of the few voices that is speaking out on women's issues and advocating more broadly. I'm wondering if you could share a few of the initiatives that you've been fighting for recently in terms of women's rights and women, broadly, in our country.

[Robyn Benson]

Well, certainly from our perspective, our number one issue right now is child care and universal child care. The reality is that our young women workers are having a very difficult time. We had to go to the court, and it was the Johnstone case. I'm not sure which court it was, but we certainly won at it. But this particular young woman is a CBSA employee who worked variable shifts, and what she asked her employer for was a shift, a constant shift. It didn't matter when it was, but she wanted a constant shift so that she could get child care, and the employer refused. And so, of course, we represented her, as did others.

I think it's ironic that we speak about women today coming into the workforce, and here we are in 2014—and I'm now a grandmother—and there still isn't universal child care. When I started in 1980 I was looking for child care and now I have grandchildren who need child care. So us at PSAC, it's certainly a cause that we're speaking up about.

[Seema Lamba]

Along with that, one of the things we're quite concerned about—talking about cuts—is the cuts to the Status of Women, where 12 of the 16 offices have been closed. That was a place where funding was given for advocacy groups, but also research. So it's really important to have that back again, to be able to figure out what the barriers are. There were certain organizations that were actually looking at the very issue of women and leadership, which I can give you examples of. So they need to be funded properly so they can do the study and then be able to make that presentation. That's one of the things that's important for us: to get that money back in

As well as just internally with Treasury Board, in workplaces you must have good policies. Employment equity is also very important. That's also a priority, just internally, because women have made gains in the federal public sector. They are representative and they are making it at the executive level. But it's been because of these really strong factors or mechanisms in the workplace, and now they're beginning to be eroded, and that's what we are concerned about as well.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Thank you.

Mrs. Sellah, go ahead.

[Djaouida Sellah, NDP, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

I want to begin by thanking the two witnesses for participating in our study on the economic prosperity and leadership of Canadian women.

According to the United Nations 2012 human development index, inequalities in Canada have increased. We ranked 15th, behind countries such as Iceland, Denmark and Slovenia. According to the World Economic Forum's annual report for 2012, Canada slipped from the 18th to the 21st position in one year, falling behind the Philippines, Latvia, Cuba and Nicaragua. That report ranks countries based on gender inequality data in terms of economic situation, access to education, health care and women's participation in politics.

I would like you to explain to us why Canada has been falling behind on the international stage over the past few years.

Is this regression due to politics, budget cuts, programs that have not been renewed? What are your thoughts on this?

[Seema Lamba]

Yes, we think it is the cuts.

Even with some of the changes to the eligibility age, for example, for old age security or CPP—from 67 to 65—we know that women are often the poorest and they leave the workforce. Sometimes they don't have workplace pensions so this is what they rely on as a good chunk of their income. Now if the qualifying age has gone from 65 to 67 that would increase poverty.

The changes to EI, for example, also affect women disproportionately, because more women are in part-time work as well. I was looking for the statistics about how many women are actually able to access EI and it's a very low number. I'm thinking the percentage is in the 30s.

With the changes, it's going to be harder because now they have to commute farther and take lower jobs. That's going to contribute to bringing it down because, if they have child care, they can't commute longer. So these kinds of changes don't take into account a gender lens when they are being implemented. Those are some examples.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Young, the floor is yours for seven minutes.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

Thank you.

I'm still waiting for you to call me madam again. You don't do it anymore, so I'm very happy about that. Thank you.

I was under the impression that the federal civil service was actually a really good place to work and that for equality of opportunity for women it was one of the best organizations in Canada.

Is that not true?

[Seema Lamba]

I'm just looking in here because I actually have the rates of harassment and discrimination.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

No, no. I'm talking about equality of opportunity in the workplace and prosperity for women.

[Seema Lamba]

If you look at the employment equity annual report it would show the representation gap at the executive level. That would be where you would have—

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

I mean compared to other organizations in Canada, private companies, and other governments.

[Robyn Benson]

I think we would disagree with you. Certainly what we have right now is—