As the sun dipped below the horizon, casting a warm glow over the vast prairies of Alberta, a subtle but significant divide lingered in the air. Amidst the ever-changing economic activity in the province, lies the disparity between male and female wages. This is not merely a story of individuals but of the unseen barriers and consequences in the fight for equal pay.
The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, states “Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.”
In clear violation of the UN declaration, Alberta has the highest gender wage gap out of all the provinces in Canada. While the inequity has shrunk throughout the years, there remains a sizable difference in wages between genders. According to the Business Council of Alberta, women in the province only earn around three-quarters of what their male counterparts are earning.
Identifying the gap
Many factors explain the discrepancy. Alicia Planincic, in her role as economist and manager of Policy at the Business Council of Alberta, spends a lot of time addressing the wage gap. The council represents over 130 different business industries throughout the province and is consistently in touch with them to understand issues in the workforce and put forth solutions. The aim is to create healthier, thriving business sectors that aim to improve the lives of Albertans.
Planincic explains that even though the gap has continued to close the last ten years, this is primarily because the average wage for men has decreased since the collapse of the oil industry back in 2014. In other words, it is not so much that women’s wages have increased dramatically, but rather that they continue to slowly increase while male wages decrease.
This article first appeared in the Spring 2024 issue of Article 1, a human rights magazine published by students in MRU’s school of Journalism & Digital Media. You can read more issues and articles at their website.
Three main themes stick out to Planincic when it comes to the gender wage gap: 1.) gender bias and discrimination, 2.) lack of women in leadership roles, and 3.) motherhood.
Gender biases are still seen throughout roles in the workforce — jobs that are seen as for men rather than for women, and also the way that women are perceived in society.
The second theme of women in leadership roles can be the confidence needed for women looking for job opportunities.
“About 17, 18 per cent of board positions in Alberta are held by women, obviously a far cry from 50 per cent gender equity and also a little bit less than the overall Canadian average too,” said Planincic. “So it’s kind of this self-fulfilling prophecy of if I don’t see leaders that are women, then Why would I expect to be a woman leader? Right. And so as we start to see more women being leaders, I think we’re going to start to see that shift among the younger generation as well.”
Planincic adds motherhood is a factor that can significantly disrupt women from getting back into their careers after having taken time off for having children.
Although these factors may not be unique to Alberta, there is one that is — the oil and gas industry, where the wage gap between males and females persists. Planincic notes that the returns (higher paying jobs, more opportunities, better benefits, etc.) were particularly high for men, driving a greater gender gap in Alberta.
“As a result,” said Planincic, “decisions were made within individual households based on the fact that men were likely to earn higher amounts and out-earn their female partners leaving women more likely to leave the labor force or work part-time.”
Many organizations have stepped forward for women who are struggling with returning to work or just seeking out those opportunities in the first place. The Business Council of Alberta has partnerships with companies like Axis Connects which connects women all over Calgary and supports them in leadership roles and throughout professional development. Ask Her YYC supports women who are getting into politics.
“Every month or year, I just learn about new organizations that are coming up to try to make progress. I think they are playing a key piece and really building the momentum in Alberta,” said Planincic.
Importance of Child Care
The Alberta Child Care agreement, which started back in January 2022, looks to help parents access affordable childcare by providing grants to childcare operators so that they can lower costs for parents, while also expanding childcare subsidies for eligible parents.
Planincic said that it’s “One of the wonderful things that we’ve seen in Alberta, that’s had a huge impact on labor force participation, which I think will eventually translate into a closing gender gap,”
This agreement Planincic notes has been beneficial for women in the labour force.
“The impact of bringing childcare costs down in Alberta has already been bigger than for any other state, any other province. We’ve seen the labour force participation rate of women with children zero to five increase more in Alberta than anywhere else.”
However, Planincic says more needs to be done.
“There’s continued work that needs to be done to ensure that child care is not just affordable, but it’s also accessible and it’s high quality, right? If you don’t have all three of those things, it’s going to continue to be a barrier for women.”
According to Planincic, when having one child or even two, it is usually the woman who is at home with the kids and has to take time off work to be able to care for them. Unfortunately, this means that when a woman is ready to begin work again, she is a year or two behind where she was before she had children. This can be a factor in the decision not to return to work, or to just work part-time.
With the Alberta Child Care Agreement, people like Natasha Samji, owner of Village Scholars Preschool and Mahogany Scholars Preschool in Calgary, are seeing a shift in the people who are seeking out daycare.
“The government grants have made a huge difference to families, significantly more affordable, so that has really helped. Here specifically [Village Preschool], it’s really nice because we’re very close to Bow Valley [College] and so we’ve been able to help a lot of families go to school while they have care for their children,” said Samji.
Samji realizes that the wage gap in Alberta can heavily discourage women from seeking out childcare. In addition, she says stigmas surrounding women and child care contributes to a woman’s decision about returning to work.
“It very much perpetuates the wage gap because of the lack of value in the field, the lack of credit that the education we have gets.”
Samji believes that the need for more government funding and resources would help to alleviate some of the negativity around childcare. There should also be a level of education administered to new moms for them to easily access the help they need, while having more government advocacy for childcare.
“If the government itself was able to value the work that the women do, then they would be funded. They would be able to get further education, and the more education, the more families would be comfortable accessing childcare. Utilizing childcare lifts everybody up, because women are able to go back into the workforce, they’re able to go to school themselves, so it makes a huge difference.”
Future generations
There is a sense of urgency when it comes to teaching and empowering the younger generation of men and women who are entering the workforce about the wage gap. Teaching them not only how to negotiate and fight for equal pay but to also have confidence in their abilities and skills when looking for career opportunities.
Amanda Williams is an assistant professor in the School of Communication Studies at Mount Royal University. Her main goal is for students to do a deep dive into understanding what they want out of their jobs or careers.
“Part of what I hope people will think is, what is it that they want? What sort of core values capture what it is they think they want? And not be intimidated to do a bit of the work to ask for more when they’re offered a salary,” said Williams.
Elizabeth Lyons and Laurina Zhang, in the article ‘Salary Transparency and Gender Pay Inequality’, observed that “salary transparency improves average gender pay equality primarily within the most visible organizations that likely anticipate high levels of public scrutiny.”
However, without the media’s attention and the potential negativity and backlash from the public, it’s hard to say if these organizations are implementing any change. The article also suggests “Facilitating low-cost public monitoring of gender inequalities can motivate organizations to enact change.”
Salary transparency, however, has limits and there is much work needed to be done outside of these organizations.
Her effort to teach her students about salary transparency, is a part of what can be done. Setting her students up with the courage to talk about their salary can produce a positive outcome when entering the workforce.
It’s one thing to find a job and apply for it but it is another to advocate for the skills that you bring to the table. Williams encourages students to realize they are worth more than they are offered. She feels that an essential part of closing the gender wage gap in Alberta is more education. As not everyone has an opportunity to acquire an education through university, there are individuals who are in the workforce who are experiencing these issues without any knowledge on how to deal with them.
“There’s a whole bunch of people out there working in jobs, where those pay gaps are still very apparent,” said Williams. “And until there’s some real structural changes, we won’t see that. But again, training people who are going to be potentially leaders in that space in a secondary context can have that impact.”
Helping to empower her students to have confidence when offered a job is one of William’s main objectives.
“It really is starting to think about your worth and value and not being afraid to try something new, seek more opportunities and reach higher in a situation where you’re being taken advantage of. And talk about salaries. Be transparent about those things,” said Williams.
She believes the power of negotiation skill and being open about salaries or any discrepancies an individual may have when it comes to a job, will have a positive effect when it comes to applying and accepting job offers.
There are a variety of factors that play a part in the discrepancy between wages in Alberta, from the gender bias to women not being able to afford childcare. Although Planincic notes the wage gap is continuing to close, she says there is much work still needed to be done. With people like Williams, teaching the younger generations the skills needed to successfully navigate these disparities and Samji who understands the importance of childcare for women entering the field, there is progress. Work still needs to be done in order to close the gender wage gap, however for this to happen, there must be a positive change in the value of women in society.