March is Women’s History Month, with March 8th being recognized as International Women’s Day. To celebrate and honour the women who have championed equality rights in Canada, SWL is highlighting the activism and achievements of some notable women in Canadian history, and their contributions to achieving intersectional equity in our society.
Viola Desmond: A Civil Rights Icon
Viola Desmond was a Canadian civil rights activist who is largely credited with sparking the civil rights movement in Canada. Today, she is featured on the $10 bill.
Desmond was born on July 6, 1914, in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
In November 1946, while on a business trip, Desmond purchased a ticket to see a movie in a whites-only section of the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. Despite being asked to leave and being forcibly removed from the theater, Desmond refused to move to the designated “colored” section in the balcony. She was subsequently arrested, charged with tax evasion (as the balcony seats were one cent cheaper), and spent the night in jail.
These events took place approximately nine years before Rosa Parks would take a similar stance in the United States.
Desmond’s courageous act of resistance, which occurred before the American Civil Rights Movement, played a significant role in raising awareness of racial segregation in Canada and paved the way for further activism in the country. Her case inspired the Black community in Nova Scotia to organize and advocate for change, and the efforts of these activists eventually led to the end of legal segregation in the province in 1954.
Viola Desmond’s case sparked a movement against segregation in Nova Scotia, and although Desmond’s legal challenge was unsuccessful, it helped to galvanize the civil rights movement in Canada. In 2010, Desmond was granted a posthumous pardon and is now celebrated as a symbol of Canadian civil rights and social justice.
Women’s History Month is a celebration of all women and their accomplishments, as well as a reminder of the additional activism that racialized and Indigenous women had to embark upon in the fight for gender equality.
How employers can help further intersectional gender equality in the workplace
While we have made impressive strides towards eliminating gender inequality in Canadian society, there is still a long way to go. According to the Ontario Pay Equity Commission, for every dollar that a man makes in Canada, women earn just 89 cents. That gap is wider for BIPOC members, especially those who are women or transgender. According to a recent study released by Statistics Canada earlier this year demonstrated that the average pay for visible minorities can be as much as 24% lower than their white counterparts in some workplaces.
When it comes to the gender pay gap, Ontario does have pay equity laws that require men and women doing the same or comparable work to receive the same or comparable pay. However, what these pay equity laws don’t do is consider who is getting promoted or recognized for their work, and who is not. They also don’t consider who is expected to also shoulder the unpaid labour of childcare and family responsibilities, and who is not. And of course, these laws only look at the overall gender pay gap, not the pay gap experienced by people of colour.
By introducing pay transparency, employers could experience the following DEI-related benefits in the workplace:
- Employers and employees would have a better understanding of who is getting rewarded for hard work and who is getting overlooked.
Is there a certain type of person in the workplace who is constantly getting promoted, or getting recognized for their efforts? Are there certain types of people in the workplace who are constantly getting overlooked? While promotions may become company-wide knowledge, knowing the value of that promotion helps keep track of ensuring that there isn’t any unconscious bias at play in making salary decisions.
- Employees would be able to see what they could reasonably expect if and when their hard work is rewarded.
Research has shown that women and racialized employees tend to ask for less money. By providing some insight into salary expectations either at an initial hiring stage or within the employer’s promotions processes, employees will have a more uniform understanding of what salary they can expect and employers will have a prepared answer that they will be able to provide all employees.
- By creating an environment where women and people of colour feel knowledgeable about company progression and salary expectations, employers can eventually expect to see more diverse individuals in senior leadership positions.
Many DEI-related issues in the workplace stem from the fact that many organizations still have yet to take proactive steps to ensure that their senior leadership teams are as diverse as their entry-level positions, or as diverse as the community in which they are situated. In a city as diverse as Toronto, for instance, from a DEI perspective, it is inappropriate for companies to assert that they cannot find “qualified” BIPOC candidates to join their senior leadership teams. Pay transparency is a way for employers to invest in their employees, especially their female and BIPOC employees, by ensuring that they are provided with the same opportunities and same rewards as their white male counterparts.
Ultimately, whether or not to implement pay transparency is the decision of the employer; there are no laws in Ontario that mandate it. However, the benefits from both a time and money-saving perspective are substantial; the benefits from a DEI perspective are invaluable.
For more information on how to implement pay transparency in job postings or in company policies, please contact your Seabrook Workplace Law lawyer.
