XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: bld@shaw.ca   
      
   International Women’s Day gives us an opportunity to celebrate   
   the many achievements on the journey to gender equality. It also   
   gives us pause to assess where we are in that journey. We are   
   reminded daily that millions of women in developing countries   
   struggle for personal and economic freedom, including the   
   freedom to learn, work, and participate.   
      
   Compared to their situation, women in Canada are doing well. Our   
   young men and women may wonder whether the theme for this year’s   
   International Women’s Day, Inspiring Change, applies to us. When   
   they look around, they see that men and women are attending   
   colleges and universities at equal rates. In some professions,   
   women make up more than half of the graduating classes. Men and   
   women are participating in equal numbers in the work force. In   
   Ontario, we have human rights, pay equity and employment   
   standards laws, in addition to many other services and community   
   organizations that protect the rights of women and continue to   
   advocate for the full integration of women in all areas of   
   public and private life. What, they may ask, needs to change in   
   Canada?   
      
   The gender wage gap is one indicator of the fact that progress   
   to economic equality has plateaued. While there are many ways to   
   measure the gap, a common statistic – comparing full-time/full-   
   year average wages – puts the gender gap at 26 per cent. This   
   means that for every $1 earned by a male worker, a female worker   
   is earning only $0.74. In the last decade this figure has barely   
   moved. For women of colour and Aboriginal women, the gap is even   
   wider. Royal Bank has estimated that if the gender wage gap were   
   addressed and women and men in Canada received the same economic   
   opportunities, women would have $168-billion more in disposable   
   income.   
      
   The poor representation of women in leadership roles is another   
   indicator. Despite the overwhelming evidence that demonstrates   
   without doubt that companies with more diverse boards are more   
   profitable, women make up only about 16 per cent of corporate   
   board seats.   
      
   Business structures and practices have not caught up to modern   
   day realities because stereotypes about women and work persist.   
      
   Many employers continue to make assumptions about women and   
   their roles as caregivers, consciously or unconsciously   
   overlooking them for advancement and training opportunities or   
   by not considering them for more lucrative projects.   
      
   Women have been told to take the initiative by negotiating their   
   pay, but numerous studies show that women who attempt to   
   negotiate for better salaries either don’t receive them or are   
   viewed negatively by their managers and co-workers.   
      
   Finally, “women’s work”- and the so-called “soft skills” that   
   women are respected for – are still being undervalued and under-   
   compensated.   
      
   We need to be inspired. We also need to take action – to make   
   use of the laws, strategies and tools that have been developed   
   so that a real and substantive culture shift about women at work   
   becomes the new standard.   
      
   Culture shift is never easy. It requires introspection and   
   change at both the organizational and individual level. It takes   
   strong leadership and men and women working together to come up   
   with new ways of doing things. Where gender workplace equality   
   is concerned, it means restructuring our business and   
   compensation practices to mirror the realities of today’s world.   
      
   By acting to change our own culture to ensure that women are   
   fully integrated into the economic and social fabric of our   
   country, we inspire other jurisdictions and populations and   
   economies to aim for our successes.   
      
   Emanuela Heyninck is commissioner of the Pay Equity Commission   
   of Ontario   
      
   http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/womens-day-in-canada-   
   much-to-celebrate-much-more-work-to-do/article17370856/   
      
       
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)