Committee seeks to close gender wage gap.

• Author: Myers, Ella
• Position: NEWS

Marianne Matichuk remembers picketing at her high school in the 1970s, protesting the exclusion of girls from shop class. The campaign was successful, and she and her peers gained access to skills training previously reserved for their male classmates.

In many ways, that's where the progress stopped, said Matichuk. While she saw movements for workplace equality in the 1980s and 1990s, she said she has not yet seen the changes she'd like in education, hiring practices and wage equity for women in the workforce.

Matichuk represented Business and Professional Women's Sudbury chapter at a December town hall meeting held by the Gender Wage Gap Strategy Steering Committee, formed by the Ministry of Labour. The committee stopped in Sudbury as part of its consultation process, which is covering 14 Ontario communities.

According to the consultation document, "the Ontario government is examining ways that government, business, labour, and individuals can work together to identify opportunities--and barriers--to closing the gender wage gap."

The wage gap in Ontario, on average, ranges from 12 to 31 per cent. The presentation by the committee pointed out that Aboriginal women who have immigrated and women living with a disability often face a wider gap, and that the gap also varies across communities and industries.

"We know there's a difference between different parts of the province," said Nancy Austin, executive lead on the committee.

The Sudbury participants represented a cross-section of the workforce, with representatives from women's professional organizations, women's advocacy groups, and a significant turnout by members of the mining community.

One attendee who has worked for decades in mining discussed the difficulties she faces as a woman seeking work after the recent closure of the nickel company she worked for.

"I'm well qualified, but the same issues are always there; it's a struggle to get hired," she said. "Of the people laid off, if one of the people is a woman and six of them are guys, the guys are going to get jobs first."

Another participant who is the I parent of two young girls said she faced discrimination in the public sector. She recounted being asked in a job interview what child care she had planned, and being challenged on using...