B.C. continues to have the largest gender pay gap in the country, with women earning about 20 per cent less than men, Liberal MLA and gender equity critic Stephanie Cadieux said Tuesday in the legislature, as politicians marked International Women’s Day.
On average, women earn $5.90 less per hour than men, said Cadieux, who introduced a bill called the Equal Pay Reporting Act, to be debated in the next legislative session. The bill would require businesses of a prescribed size to report the pay gap between male and female employees.
It’s the fifth time Cadieux has introduced the same private member’s bill, which last required businesses of a certain size — those that employ more than 50 people, for example — to declare the salaries and bonuses of all employees so gender pay gaps could be identified.
“Let’s make 2022 the year that we work together to close the gender gap,” said Cadieux. “I urge all members of this House to act decisively to make equal-pay legislation in B.C. a reality.”
Grace Lore, parliamentary secretary for gender equity, said in the legislature Tuesday she is working on closing the gender pay gap through the creation of “made-in-B.C. pay transparency legislation.”
B.C. is one of four provinces, along with Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland and Labrador, without either pay transparency or pay equity legislation. Pay transparency would require employers to disclose information about compensation of employees.
Consultations will begin this spring to help develop new legislation, Lore said, and will include Indigenous organizations, public- and private-sector employer groups, business and union organizations, and employers.
The pay equity gap is not just about gender but also race, said Lore. “It’s bigger for Indigenous women and girls, those living with disabilities and newcomers.”
The new legislation will “help us to lead the way, not just catch up,” she said.
Lore applauded the 37 women elected to sit in the B.C. legislature, as well as Clerk Kate Ryan-Lloyd, the first woman to hold the position in the province’s history, as well as the women recently recognized with the Order of B.C., including provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Tracy Porteous, founding executive director of Ending Violence Association of B.C.
Lore also recognized female leaders in the community, including Katrina Jensen, who leads harm reduction and safe supply services through AIDS Vancouver Island, and Jean McRae, who leads the Inter-Cultural Association.
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