Time to double down on inclusion: North American women still 95 years away from pay equity
North American women will have to wait nearly a century for equal pay, according to a new report from the Women’s Executive Network’s Global Alliance for Inclusive Leadership urging organizations to “double down” on inclusion.
Calling women’s progress “glacial at best,” the report found that fewer than 25 per cent of executive roles in corporate Canada are filled by women.
Despite concrete evidence that diversity strengthens an organization’s performance, profitability, and culture, the network said diversity, equity, and inclusion roles are being cut at rates outpacing other workplace reductions.
Currently, women hold just more than one-third of board seats at Canada’s biggest companies. However, racialized women only occupy about four per cent of positions on S&P/TSX Composite company boards, with Black women representing 1.2 per cent overall.
Just one in ten Canadian CEOs and one in four executives are women.
On average, Canadian women make just 84 cents for every dollar a man earns. The pay gap for racialized women and women living with a disability is even higher.
“The time for a systemic correction of this systemic problem is now,” said Lori Straznicky, Canada’s pay equity commissioner. “This is not only the smart way to conduct business; it is the law.”
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