What is it?

• The gender wage gap is the difference between wages earned by men and wages earned by women.
• The gap can be measured in various ways, but the most common method is to look at full–time, full year wages. It is also possible to measure the gender wage gap on the basis of hourly wages.
• For 2011 – the gap was 26% for full–time, full-year workers, or the female worker earns 74 cents per $1.00 for men.

Pay Equity Commission, What is the Gender Wage Gap

Why should we care?

• Reducing the gender wage gap would help to increase the economic security of women.
• Women constituted the majority (58.3%) of minimum wage earners in Ontario in 2012.
• Families that depend on female earners, such as female lone-parent families, are more vulnerable to poverty.
• Reducing the wage gap would improve women’s earnings during their lifetimes and lower the likelihood of poverty during their working years and in retirement. It may also help to lower the number of women on social assistance.

Ministry of Labour, Closing the Gender Wage Gap: A Background Paper, 2015

Download the full Backgrounder here>>