Report: Women in Canada Earn 28% Less Than Men

Women in Canada earn 72 cents to every dollar a man earns in the same field of work.

The wage gap between men and women in Canada is getting wider with women paid far less than men for doing the same work, a new report published Monday by Oxfam Canada and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives reveals.

Titled “Making Women Count,” the report shows that on average women are paid 72 cents for every dollar earned by a man in the same field of work. In 2009, the figure was 74 cents, pointing to a growing divide between what men and women earn.

According to the report’s findings, this gender imbalance is due to systemic rather than circumstantial factors.

"The gap in men's and women's incomes is not simply the result of women working fewer hours," the report said.

"Nor is it the result of different levels of education and experience. Even when all of these factors are considered, the result remains the same: a wage gap."

RELATED: ILO Report: Young and Female, a Double Handicap to Find a Job

Although women are more likely to have a higher level of education than men, they are on average paid less — across all industries. The report notes that almost 60 percent of minimum wage workers in Canada are women.

"Education alone is not sufficient to overcome discrimination in wages and employment," the report says. "Clearly other forces are at play."

Disproportionate representation in lower-income jobs, unequal access to work and lack of affordable child care are listed as some of the factors that have contributed to the widening wage gap.

The study also notes that the wage gap is worse for Aboriginal women, immigrant women and women of different backgrounds.

For instance, Aboriginal women with a university degree earn 24 percent less than Aboriginal men with a university degree and 33 percent less than non-Aboriginal men with a university degree, according to the report.

While focusing on women in Canada, the report concludes that “overcoming inequality is a truly global task.”

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