Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Women's Employment Patterns Differ from Men's
ACTEW has just released a fact sheet focusing on Canadian Women’s labour patterns, based on an environmental scan ACTEW recently conducted for the Canadian Women’s Foundation.
Women's work patterns are not the same as men's. While men's employment patterns have changed little, women's are changing dramatically. Thirty years ago, the participation rate difference between the sexes was 31%; it is now 8%. Twice as many mothers of preschool children were working in 2006, compared with 1976. Young women are more likely to be university educated than their male peers and older women are working full-time in record numbers. Currently, women make up almost half of the labour force and account for close to three-quarters (70%) of the employment increases in Canada in 2007.
Most governments know that women are participating in increasing numbers, and experiencing low levels of unemployment. They point to this fact as evidence that women no longer require specific policy focus. However, how women access the labour market also differs significantly from men, and women are not experiencing increased income levels commensurate with increased participation.
Women are more likely to have breaks in their work histories, perform unpaid caregiving at the expense of paid employment, work part-time and be in low-paying occupations. Consequently, women have far less access to the benefits of EI, less access to training, and are paid on average 28 cents less per hour then men in work of equal value. Women still tend to be under-represented in “non-traditional occupations”, although some regions in Canada are seeing significant improvements in women’s participation, largely due to programs that support women entering into skilled trades.
Read and/or download ACTEW’s newest fact sheet Canadian Women’s Labour Patterns on ACTEW’s Putting Women in the Picture web site.
Women's work patterns are not the same as men's. While men's employment patterns have changed little, women's are changing dramatically. Thirty years ago, the participation rate difference between the sexes was 31%; it is now 8%. Twice as many mothers of preschool children were working in 2006, compared with 1976. Young women are more likely to be university educated than their male peers and older women are working full-time in record numbers. Currently, women make up almost half of the labour force and account for close to three-quarters (70%) of the employment increases in Canada in 2007.
Most governments know that women are participating in increasing numbers, and experiencing low levels of unemployment. They point to this fact as evidence that women no longer require specific policy focus. However, how women access the labour market also differs significantly from men, and women are not experiencing increased income levels commensurate with increased participation.
Women are more likely to have breaks in their work histories, perform unpaid caregiving at the expense of paid employment, work part-time and be in low-paying occupations. Consequently, women have far less access to the benefits of EI, less access to training, and are paid on average 28 cents less per hour then men in work of equal value. Women still tend to be under-represented in “non-traditional occupations”, although some regions in Canada are seeing significant improvements in women’s participation, largely due to programs that support women entering into skilled trades.
Read and/or download ACTEW’s newest fact sheet Canadian Women’s Labour Patterns on ACTEW’s Putting Women in the Picture web site.
Labels: ACTEW_Activities, Issues_and_Trends, Resources_and_Research
