Women making change in pay equity

We've come a long way, haven't we?

On average, Canadian women earn 11 to 21 percent less than Canadian men. Indigenous women and women who moved to the country as adults, experience the greatest wage disparity, at 20 and 21 percent, respectively. The wage gap persists, even though, for over 15 years, Canadian women in most sectors have attained more post-secondary education than men, a trend that continues to grow.

Wage disparity impacts women in every sector, even in women-dominated fields such as human capital management. A recent national survey by the Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA) and Chartered Professionals in Human Resources (CPHR) revealed that while "84 percent of respondents identified as female, men are still more statistically successful in attaining higher salaries and higher positions."

Stopping the party and starting conversations

Lindsay Stanford, a passionate customer experience and innovation strategy leader with over 20 years of experience, works as Head of Strategy for SimplyTold. She is also a partner at Stop the Party (STP), a Canadian initiative to close the gender wage gap through awareness, education and action.

Stanford notes that gender bias in the workplace continues to limit women's success and begins as early as the recruitment process. She points to job descriptions using masculine-coded language like "ambitious," "competitive" and "assertive" that may deter women from applying, as they may feel less qualified or welcomed in environments that emphasize these traits. She also suggests that something as fundamental as the communication styles women are socialized to use can put them at a disadvantage when negotiating salaries or promotions, leading to lower wages and fewer opportunities for career advancement.

The most recent STP campaign builds on conversations about women's equality in the workplace as it relates to women's and men’s different communication styles. Stanford says, "We partnered with VML to create a first-of-its-kind email editor tackling gender-biased language in the workplace, called MissType. We wanted to bring awareness to how language can both reflect and perpetuate gender bias in the workplace. To use MissType, you enter your text, and the editor uses artificial intelligence to analyze your writing and provide suggestions that embody both traditionally masculine and feminine language to create more effective phrasing that is direct and empathetic, the best elements of both communication styles.”

The MissType project references a Harvard Business Review study showing that women score significantly higher on many leadership competencies than men, including communication, but are discouraged from and professionally penalized for using "traditionally feminine" language in favour of more masculine language.

Taking action as business leaders

Stanford says, "Organizations should promote diversity and inclusion and create work environments that value diversity and prioritize equity. They can establish diversity and inclusion committees or task forces to identify and address barriers to gender equality and pay equity." These task forces can celebrate diversity and develop hiring, mentoring and sponsorship programs and practices. Such programs organically encourage women to pursue leadership roles and increase representation on advisory boards and in senior management positions.

Looking to the future

Alison Venditti, founder of Moms at Work, is a celebrated advocate for pay transparency, something intrinsically linked to the wage gap. Vendetti is emphatic that keeping salary ranges a secret reinforces discrimination, which, in turn, reduces pay equity. Simply put, knowledge is power, and women can better negotiate for equal pay when they have access to this information.

In a blog promoting Moms at Work’s Pay Transparency Toolkit, Venditti writes, “Pay Transparency is not only a good corporate policy; it is one of the simplest and fastest ways to prevent unconscious discrimination in hiring practices and close the pay gap.” The Moms at Work toolkit debunks pay transparency myths and provides workable templates to start the conversation on pay transparency with your own organization’s hiring managers and recruiters.

Vendetti routinely uses her public platforms to normalize talking to others about our salaries, sharing pay transparency and wage gap information on social media, and calling out employers via online comments or emails that you will not be applying for or sharing a job posting that does not include a salary range.

Making change together

Advocates for pay equity have a shared vision for change in Canada. Connect with leaders like Stanford and Vendetti to access educational tools and content and to pursue partnerships and collaborations with others passionate about ending the wage gap. The work we do today will directly influence the future of pay equity.

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