Equalization in the Labour Force
By Mohamed Abdulle

        For many Canadians, economic insecurity and economic inequalities have been a familiar reality even though most of us do not condone dramatic inequalities in the distribution of social resources. In fact, a fundamental premise of our Canadian democratic value system is to ensure that no one social group is or should be systematically excluded from the exercise of economic power. In examining the role of women and their ongoing struggle for equality, it becomes apparent that there are more women entering the work force yet many continue to remain in traditionally female occupations and work for low income in comparison to their male counterpart. This issue of wage differentials has generated much controversy and has caught the attention of various government bodies, human rights activists and feminist groups.

        In order to better understand the economics of gender discrimination, the sources and forms of gender discrimination will be first discussed. Then there will be a discussion on the effectiveness of the various government policies and the women's movement all of whom have the common goal of abolishing gender discrimination and wage differential. It will then become apparent that government legislation on its own, cannot accomplish equalization. Other strategic alternatives should be simultaneously utilized. Undoubtedly, women are working through other structured and legitimate channels for change. Many realize that pressure must continue in national and international forums which raise social consciousness for the end result of erasing the division line between economic class and gender.

        Unlike the economic class divisions, sexual division is reinforced and explained by biology and culture. One cannot argue against the reality that men and women are biologically different; however, this difference should not be used as a basis to perpetuate the idea that men and women are, therefore, not equally privileged. To give any credence to the assumption that the sexual imbalance of power is biologically based is totally erroneous. Thus, the problem becomes a political debate and an issue that demands attention, just as wage differential demands equal attention.

        Women have found employment in the various areas of industry, trade and commerce. Statistics indicate that in 1990 "women's earnings varied from a low of $8,739 in Forestry and logging occupations to a high of $28,383 for those employed in Managerial, administrative and related occupations. Men's earnings...from a low of for those in farming, horticulture and animal husbandry to a high $57,652 for this in occupations related to Medicine and health"'. From this perspective, women have been successful within the labour force. Yet within the areas of wage equality this is not the case.

This issue of wage differential between men and women and between activities done exclusively by women and those done exclusively by men is an area of great concern. Despite the fact that genders biased wages is against the law, the statistics reveal another story:

        If all workers are considered, women were paid
just 60% of what men were paid in 1990... [m]oreover, in 1991, women with university degrees earned
only 71.7 percent of what men with degrees earned
and the gap in wages for university educated women and men increased between 1990 - 1991.

        This is an alarming statistic and to understand how such inequality could continue in the '90's, one must attempt to understand the reasons for this to remain an issue. One main contributing factors is the existence of occupational segregation. This means that the areas of employment, which accommodate women, are, in fact, occupations that are more traditional in character. A question arises as to how jobs are pigeon-holed into male or female categories and how are wages determined. Gunderson and Riddell (1991) describe the use of equal value policies where job evaluators use a point score system to determine the value of a job. "In situations where this equal value approach has been applied, wages in female-dominated jobs typically have been only 80 to 90 percent of wages in male- dominated jobs of the same job evaluation point scores. From this, it could be said that if occupational segregation was eliminated, then so would the discrepancies in wages between male and female workers.

        Because the government is here to serve its people, many government bodies have become involved in the issues of gender biases. Due to the many governmental policies such as Affirmative Action, women are slowly being integrated into various types of jobs, giving many women opportunities they would not have had otherwise. They now have more access to a better and a wider variety of educational opportunities. This resulted in the rapid movement of women into professional occupations, which are traditionally male dominated fields:medicine, teaching and research, law and engineering.

        From this observation, it could be said that education is a prime vehicle of equalization and promotes a fluid social order. The education system becomes the main influence affecting the location of individuals in society. The liberalizing effects of the social mobility made possible through education are vital to the stable growth of the industrial societies. It could also be said that education liberates women in traditional societies from their perceived roles as mere procreators, and endows them with aspirations for a better life not only for themselves but also for their children.

        However, legislation and education alone cannot accomplish equalization. Women must continue to expose inequalities they are experiencing through the voice of women's clubs and feminist groups. Feminist groups have, in large, had a positive impact by addressing the continuing issue of occupational segregation and discrepancies in wages. With a collective voice, women are making it well known that they are becoming less tolerant of exploitation of any kind. While there is strength in numbers, feminist groups continue to grow and are affecting the way society is viewing the female population. It is through such groups that women are beginning to acknowledge their own economic worth and human value. Feminism has also changed the face of history while the whole world observed International Women's Year in 1975. The success of women clubs, however, depends largely on the implementation of government policies.

        However, because of the ubiquitous nature of sexual inequality, women will need to continue gaining a strong collective voice and make their demands known not only through lobbying for change through legislation, but in the educational systems as well. Respectively, if society, government and law were to cooperate and adopt a more liberal attitude towards the female gender and recognize their economic value, women as well as the rest of society would surely benefit.

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