The four life milestones that reduce Canadian women’s average salaries

New data from Statistics Canada shows that while the gender pay gap is shrinking in Canada, men still out-earn women by 12 cents per dollar.

In 2025, women aged 15 years and older earned, on average, 88 cents for every dollar earned by men, up from 82 cents in 1997, Statistics Canada said Thursday.

Indigenous and racialized women fare even worse, being paid 21 cents and 22 cents less, respectively, according to Statistics Canada.

The gender pay gap is not created by a one-time inequity, however. LeChantier de l’économie sociale and the Sectoral Workforce Committee for the Social Economy and Community Action say there are four major financial “breaking points” in most women’s lives. 

These points create a curve they call “the Women’s Economic Trajectory.”

For each of these moments, a woman’s choice, voluntary or induced, contributes to a deterioration of her economic situation.

Entering the job market

A woman’s first years in the  job market negatively impact her financial situation in three ways, said the groups.

First, the majority of unpaid internships are associated with professions occupied by women, such as social services, care, and education.

Second, women enter full-time employment later than men: 58.1 per cent of employed women aged 15 to 29 are in full-time employment, compared with 68 per cent of men of the same age. Women tend to be offered or need part-time or atypical work schedules.

Third, more women in Canada hold university degrees; however, fewer graduate into the highest-paying professions. This overrepresentation of women in precarious and low-wage jobs influences their economic trajectory.

Becoming a parent: The motherhood penalty and the fatherhood bonus

The birth of a first child triggers a financial setback that can take up to ten years to recover, explained Maude Brossard-Sabourin, Deputy General Manager at Le Chantier de l’Économie Sociale, in this interview with French CBC.

This ten-year financial setback is multi-causal, said Brossard-Sabourin.

The first twelve months of a child’s life result in a 55 per cent loss of income for the mother.

Meanwhile, some studies show that fathers make 20 per cent more than men with no children. It’s called the fatherhood bonus.

A second or a third child, and a possible reduction in working hours, widen the financial gap between women and men even further. Due to childcare shortages and the cost of daycare, 68 per cent of mothers were unable to return to work full-time after parental leave (compared to 45 per cent of fathers).

Meanwhile, the highest-paying jobs often offer the least work-life balance. 

Called the glass door phenomenon, women bear a greater share of domestic and parental responsibilities and therefore face barriers to accessing the highest-paying jobs.

The caregiving years

Women in their 40s tend to take on an additional role: becoming caregivers to their aging relatives or parents. More than a third (35.8 per cent) of women aged 45 to 64 are caregivers in Canada, compared with a quarter (25.5 per cent) of men.

Retirement

After 65 years old, the gap between women’s and men’s average income widens to 26 per cent, thanks to decades of inequality.

As women take on a larger share of unpaid domestic work, they participate less in paid work, earn lower incomes, and therefore contribute less to growing their retirement income.

The gap is wider when there are children in the household.

For example, in 2019, only 19.5 per cent of women (who filed a tax return) contributed to their RRSPs (average amount of $6,300), compared to 23.5 per cent of men (average amount of $8,500).

What’s next?

“Quebec’s feminist child-care public policy was a significant leap for gender equity,” said Brossard-Sabourin in the CBC interview. 

“It is time for new social innovations. We could imagine public policy replicating for the caregiver years what was done for childcare,” she added.

Around 15 organizations are currently using the Women’s Economic Trajectory in Quebec to conduct consultations to improve the data and stimulate thinking to identify possible solutions.