Good morning. Thank you.
My name is Maya Roy. I am the CEO of YWCA Canada. My colleague Anjum Sultana is our manager of policy. We are very pleased to be invited today to speak to this committee.
I had the privilege yesterday of being in Kamloops, B.C., a community that is still struggling with recovering from the impact of the wildfires. At YWCA Canada we have 32 member associations across Canada in nine provinces and two territories, including Kamloops, and we invest $2.1 million a year in 300 neighbourhoods across the country.
Yesterday morning I had the pleasure of speaking with one of our shelter staff, who talked to me about how she works with our women leaving abusive relationships and helps them to do their budgeting. In the midst of the housing affordability crisis in Canada when their benefits are not enough to cover their rent, she speaks to them about how to use money from their food allowance allocated toward baby formula and to put it toward rent. She talks to women about how to cut their cellphone bills, and about how they should go to the food bank first and then plan their groceries around what's in the food bank that particular week.
It really made me wonder about the amount of time and energy my colleagues are spending talking to women who are leaving abusive relationships and having to survive day by day, step by step through grinding poverty. What would it look like if we were able to work with our women to reach their true potential and be able to access the labour market and to live the lives they are meant to be living?
We know, and the evidence is quite clear in the research, that when we invest in gender equity, we also invest in economic growth. There's a very solid study by the McKinsey Global Institute that looks at gender parity in Canada. It points to how increasing labour market access for women could potentially unlock $150 billion in our GDP by 2026. Whereas men have labour market access rates of 91% in Canada, for women those rates are 87%. Imagine what that $150 billion would look like.
In our budget brief we make some recommendations on how we can support women to access the labour market. First of all is child care, child care, child care, and, as my colleague Ms. Friendly said, meeting that 1% of GDP benchmark set by the OECD. Having access to affordable child care is one of the best ways to impact economic growth and to increase labour market access rates for women.
We also know that women face unique challenges to participating in the labour market. With the rise of precarious work and the gig economy we live in today, we know there is overrepresentation of women in non-standard employment, such as contract, seasonal and part-time work. We also know that throughout their life women are more likely to leave the labour market at higher rates because they are being asked to perform unpaid care work such as elder care or child care.
As a result of their varying labour market participation, many women don't meet the current eligibility criteria to benefit from employment insurance. To address these barriers and concerns, we recommend that the Government of Canada implement the recommendations in the report of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women, “Women's economic security: securing the future of Canada's economy”. That's really about lowering the entry requirements to a national standard of 360 hours for a basic EI claim. It's a simple number, but by looking at 360 hours, we would start to increase access for EI and bridge that gap for women to do retraining, to take the time they need if they need to leave an abusive relationship or intimate partner violence, and to re-enter the labour market. We could also look at increasing the rate of EI to 60% of the best 12 weeks, up from the current 55% of insurable earnings.
We also know that reducing the gender wage gap is a very clear way to increase economic productivity. We need pay equity with teeth. Therefore, YWCA Canada urges the government to implement the recommendations of the 2016 report of the Special Committee on Pay Equity. By passing proactive pay equity legislation, followed by financial investments and enforcement in the monitoring of its implementation, we can start to invest in gender equity.
We also know that if women are not safe, if it's not safe for them to go to work, then economic productivity suffers. The 32 local member associations of YWCA Canada ask the Government of Canada to support and provide increased funding of $50 million, as well as grant a two-year extension, to the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. We know with indigenous women, given the legacy of violence and ongoing genocide they're experiencing, that if we do not address the systemic causes of violence impacting our community members and we do not given them an opportunity to be safe in this country, then we're simply not going to get the kinds of economic benefits you're looking for as a committee.
In conclusion, we know that when we invest in gender equity, we're ensuring Canada's competitiveness on the world stage. Not only will it improve equitable outcomes for women and girls of all backgrounds across the country, but it will also position our entire nation for economic and social progress for generations to come.
Thank you very much for this opportunity, and we'd be happy to answer any questions.