Conditions Of Women Workers Deteriorating

Findings drawn from the Canadian Labour Congress, Women's Work: A Report, Ottawa, March 1997

• Only 20% of women have full-time, full-year jobs which pay more than $30,000 per year, compared to 40% of men.
• Canada has the second highest incidence of low-paid employment for women (34.3%) among all industrialized (OECD) countries. Only Japan (37.2%) was worse.
• While women account for less than 20% of those in the top ten paying job categories, they represent more than 70% in the lowest paying jobs.
• The unemployment rate for young women (under 24): 15.6%; for "visible minority" women: 13.4%; for Aboriginal women: 17.7%; and for women with disabilities: 16.6%. Research produced by the Disabled Women's Network of Canada shows that 65% of women with disabilities who were unemployed wanted to work.
• In less than 20 years, the number of women part-time workers has increased by 200%. Throughout that period, women made up 70% of the part-time workforce. Over a third of part-time workers wanted to work full-time, but could only find part-time work.
• One in ten jobs are now temporary. Over a period of fifteen years, the number of women working more than one job increased by 372%

(Source: Canadian Labour Congress, Women's Work: A Report, Ottawa, March 1997.)

Shawgi Tell
Graduate School of Education
University at Buffalo
tell@acsu.buffalo.edu