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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1986-03-19, Page 22Communis • Entertainment • Features • Religion • Family • More SECTION Pay equity: the dignity of a fair wage BY SHARON DIETZ A brief on pay equity, prepared by Women Today of Huron County, states all women should be paid for the value of their work evaluated on the basis of skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions. The brief was presented to the Ontario Advisory Council on Women's Issues at their pay equity 'forum in Toronto on March 7 by Women Today director Valerie Bolton. The forum was held to permit in- dividual women and women's organiza- tions to advise the council on their response to the Ontario government's working paper on pay equity legislation. Laws requiring equal pay for work of equal value for the civil service are soon to be introduced at Queen's Park and a special consultation panel is studying the idea for the private sector., The panel con- sisting of Royal LePage president William Dimma, Campbell's Soup president David Clark and Bennecon vice-president Gail Cook have been touring Ontario since ,February 10 to find out what ordinary peo- ple have to say on the issue. They'll com- plete the hearings in May. Exploit women Women Today chose several recommen- dations contained in the Advisory. Coun- cil's response to the government green paper to support in their brief. Wome To- day agrees with the council that pay eiity legislation must ensure the broadest possi- ble coverage or it will have little effect on women in Huron County. A pay equity policy shouldbe broadly defined to apply to all sectors and to everyone according to job content, Bolton told the forum. • Women Today also told the council there should be no gender predominant guidelines in the legislation. If the purpose of pay equity is to address gender-based pay discrimination only, few women in Huron County will be affected by the legislation. "We want all women to be paid for the value of their work," said Bolton. "Women' in non-traditional jobs in male dominant sectors and women whose jobs do not fall into- female dominant uatego i is should also benefit from pay eq y g Small business is a major emploYer 'in Huron and many women will not have .a male dominant group to be compared to, says the brief. "If equal value comparison will be limited to a given employer's establishment without permitting com- parisons between wages .paid by one employer and those paid by another, not 'all women who could will benefit from pay equity legislation." Support recommendations Many employers exploit women and will not implement pay equity unless the legislation is mandatory, Women Today told the forum. Pay equity should specify a comprehensive mandatory implementa- tionplan including mandatory develop- ment schemes in the non -unionized sector and specfic dates. All employers without exception must be included in the im- plementation of pay equity and no allowable exceptions should be permitted, said the brief. "The onus should rest with the employer and a complaint only mode for implemen- tation would be too theatening for women where job prospects are low." Factors which specifically affect women in Huron County include the traditional undervaluation of women's work, wage discrimination and the lack of unioniza- tion, said Bolton. Most women workers in Huron County are employed in clerical, service and primary industry usually agriculture, medicine, and health and sales. Very few are unionized. Not only are women employed in low paying pink ,ghetto occupations, but wage setting pracices are such that wages are not even posted with job descriptions. POSTSCRIPT Susan Hundertmark , There's still a lot of fight left in Katimavik The Mulroney government tried to kill it neatly and quietly. But, the Katimavik program, fueled by the vitality of its par- ticipants and their contribution to com- munities across Canada, will not die easi- ly. Thanks to Senator Jacques Hebert and hundreds of those who have been touched. by Katimavik, the program will kick, scream and struggle for its last gasp of life. And, as far as its supporters are con- cerned, Katimavik still has some fight left in it. Hebert, the founding president of the $20 million volunteer youth program, is leading the fight with a hunger strike he started last Monday. Though he's been blasted by Prime Minister Mulroney as using ."undemocratic" methods in his fight, Hebert has focussed the protest, something that the previous hundreds of letters to .,the government supporting" Katu�avik failed to do. Aid, as hundreds more letters are mailed ', a closer examination of the led u in, value of Katimavik is resulting. You might say the coroner has been forced to postpone an autopsy since the patient's heart has been found to continue beating. For those who look for one-dimensional answers, the value of Katimavik is misleading. By paying its 1'7 to 21 -year- old participants $1 a day for a nine month period, the program does not solve the national problem of unemployment of Canadian youth. It does not create new jobs or reduce the unemployment rate in an immediate way. But, Katimavik's value can be measured in many ways. Monetarily, the $20 million program produced $60 million in assets to communities across Canada. Through physical labor, participants 'built playgrounds, mbridges, parks and community centres which continue to benefit those communities involved in Katimavik. - • .. More important are the intangible assets of the program. Participants shared themselves with the communities 'they 'visited by working' with children, seniors and the handicapped–filling a socias gap that local youthhad neither the time nor inclination to fill. By taking long walks with lonely seniors or helping retarded adults par- ticipate in the workforce, the par- ticipants contributed . greatly to the humanity of a town. They also learned that personal satisfaction can be just as valuable as a wage in return for their labors. It's no wonder that enduring friend- ships between participants and sponsors have resulted from the program. Katimavikers still return ( and probably will continue to return) to Goderich to view the work they , accomplished and renew the personal ties they've made. An expensive tourism campaign could not promote the town better. . The local sponsors and community members also benefitted from Katimavik. As Canadians of all ethnic groups, religions and economic levels worked in the comrnunity,'they brought to town the rich diversity of the country. By their presence in town, they en- couraged tolerance and understanding. Personal growth and increased life skills were also often the result of the program. Many of the participants had never lived away from home before join- ing Katimavik. During the nine month program, they learned to bake bread, produce cheap and nutritious' meals, develop their independence and self- confidence and cooperate withother peo- ple. Often after completing the program, participants would have a more focussed .I view of their life's goals and be able to tackle post secondary school or employ- ment. Through the program they developed a greater capacity to look at themselves, think through their pro- blems and search for the answers they need. In short, they grew. Katimavik was not a make-work pro- gram. Its purpose was not long-term employment. Instead, it made oppor- tunities for Canadian youth to examine and contribute towards their country, its communities and their own lives. And, afterwards, it could prevent underemployment. To say, as Mulroney has done, that Katimavik is an "outdated approach of the past" is ridiculous. The United Na- tions awarded the Canadian program during last year's International Year of Youth and several countries including the United States and Australia are podelling youths programs : after Katimavik. Far from. outdated, Katimavik appears to be an international trailblazer. I And, to suggest that scarce dollars are available. to promote the employment of youth is equally misleading. The $36 billion spent by I the federal government each year on personal and corporate tax breake clearly point to the government's list of ,priorities. Youth, it seems, is not high on that list. An initnediate return is not always evi- dent after every . investment. By spen- ding $20� million on Katimavik, the government was investing in its youth. Tolerant, vital, responsible, caring, curious acrd thinking adults were the long range profits. I IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINIIIIII�� "Women have no idea whether they are be- ing paid fairly, whethertheir colleagues are making similar wages or what range of pay they can expect to receive for their job." Bolton told the council. "Many negotiate individually for their pay, in- creases where an employer can use in- timidation, manipulation and the 'secrecy surrounding wage scales to keep women underpaid for their work." Many women experience sexual har- rassment on the job and because they are not unionized, there is not even a grievance or complaint procedure in place, states the brief. Women being undervalued for their work is traditional in the rural com- Traditional 'pink ghetto" jobs include clockwise from the upper left, sales clerk, child' care workers, waitress, secretary and bank teller. Women working in these jobs have been traditionally underpaid for the value of their work because it was assumed the woman had a man in the family who was earning the "real" money. Pay equity legislation directs employers to en- sure that wages are set on the basis of the value of the work; not on the sex of the person doing it. munities of Huron County, said Bolton. Women working on the farm are not only undervalued and underpaid but in many cases.they are not paid at all for their work on the farm. The farm woman can be found on the farm, in the house, in the paid work force and in the community. Her roles vary from labour' to management, including the priceless qualities of the nurturer, counsellor and mediator. Farm women don't just work double days. Many work triple days. They hold paying parttime jobs in order to help sup- port the farm, then they come home to do their farm chores, bookkeeping, family and household work. In a survey of 600 women in Bruce County by a group called Concerned Farm Women, 60 per cent of farm womendid off -farm work, 55 per cent did chores, 81 per cent keep farm ac- counts, 74 per cent did harvesting and 100 per cent did house work. A full 47 per cent get no payment at all for their farm work while the economic contribution of farm women in eastern On- tario is estimated to be worth in excess of $922 a week. "When women are undervalued, under- paid or not paid at all for their work, it causes stress, emotional harm and low self esteem. This affects women, their family life and society as well as their productivi- ty on the job," concludes the brief. Pay equity There is no"doubt that pay equity for women is the number one issue of concern for women in this province, says Mary Cornish of the Equal Pay Coalition. A recent Goldfarb Survey in Ontario found that 62 per cent of both women work- ing in the home and women working out- side the home felt the government was moving too slowly on the issue of equal pay for work of equal value. Forty- six per cent of the men in that same survey also felt the government was moving too slowly.,' It is not hard to understand why there is such general agreement on this issue among women. Women working in female- dornineted occupations have ' always known their work is undervalued in rela- tion to that of male -dominated occupa- tions, says Cornish. Now, however, studies have also conclusively established that the sex of the worker performing a job is "the best single predictor of the compensation Why can't Why,do we need pay equity. . Most people are fainiliar,with the idea of equal pay for equal work — where women', and men are doing the same job, they should be paid the same wage. We've had laws to provide for this in most jurisdic- tions in Canada for 25 or 30 years. Most women in our work force, however, don't do the same kind of jobs as men. They work in clerical, sales and ser- vice jobs, where almost all the workers are women. Jobs like these, traditionally done by -omen, have generally been paid at much lower rates than jobs traditionally done bymen. The parking lot attendant, who is 0 man, gets paid more than the typist, who is a woman. There are historical reasons for this oc- cupational segregation of women into low- is number one issue for women for the job, surpassing in importance education, experience or unionization", says Comparable Worth ' and Wage Discrimination - Technical Possibilities and Political Realitites. Despite nearly 30 years of legislation eo i she same Ontario mandating equal pay work, the wage gap has remained at ap- proximately 38 per cent. This 'is because the Ontario wbrk force continues to be oc- cupationally ,segregated into Male and female -dominated jobs. The labour force is divided into women's work aild men's work, a situation that has remained remarkably stable over the 40 years covered by the last five censuses. In 1981, the American National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences concluded that `not only do women do different work than men, but the work women do is paid less and the more the occupation is dominated by women the less it pays"., Equal pay for work of equal value ad- dresses the problem that the present wage structure has artificially depressed wages paid to women and men engaged in historically female work relative to what those wages would have been had those jobs been performed by males. Equal value legislation directs employers to en- sure that wages are set on the basis of the value of the work done, not, on the sex of the person doing it. The arguments put forward by the business community that you can't evaluate dissimilar jobs are clearly er- roneous and have done a lot of damage to the credibility of, business on this issue, says Cornish. The business community itself developed job evaluation systems which have been used to evaluate dissimilar jobs. Historically, these employer job evalua- tion systems have included inherently discriminatory valuations of the skills which women predominantly hold. For ex- ample, the nurturing skills which women use in occupations such as daycare worker have been traditionally undervalued or ig nored altogether. The same is true of the communication skills of the receptionist or the switchboard operator. Communication skills when they are found- in male ex- ecutive level jobs are highly rewarded, however. With the advent of equal value legisla- tion both in the United States and in Canada and elsewhere in the world, some management consulting firms are 'now revising and adapting their job evaluation systems to eliminate sex bias. For example, 'the Hay system used to give zero points for the working conditions Turn topage 2A• a woman be paid more like a man paying job ' ghettos. As women went to work outside the home, early in this cen- tury, only certain kinds of jobs were deem- ed suitable for theme Women's jobs in the work force closely paralleled what they had been expected to do in the home – helping and support occupations. Many jobs were thought of as "men's work", even though there was no logical reason why women couldn't do •the work just as well. -We found that out in wartime when women took over all kinds of "men's jobs" while the men were away at war. They received official blessings for doing so, and indeed we encouraged to believe it was their patriotic duty to go out and work at the jobs that we had previously thought only men could do, One the war was over, the men return- ed, wantingtheir jo s ac , an wom either had to go back home again, or return to the kind of traditional women's work they had been doing before. Society's perceptions about women's role in society also influenced the value put on those jobs. Jobs done by then were paid more, largely because it was assumed that a man had a 'Wife and family to support, but a woman didn't. $ince women were do - helping, caring and support work in the home without pay, lAen the entered the, work force and worked at the same kind of support occupations, society did not put a very high value on their contribution: Those perceptions about women's role and women's work are still very strong in our society, even though so much . has changed. For instance, Only about 24 per cent of all Canadian families are now sup- ported by the earnings of the husband alone. Many women in the work force are single women who must support themselves' or they are single parents sup- porting dependents. Data shows Now im- portant the contribution of women working outside the home is to family income. Many more of our two parent families would fall below the poverty line if wives as well as husbands were not in the -work force. ` Yet because women are still confined to a limited number of low-paying job ghet- tos, the gap between the average earnings of women and men is almost as great now as it was 50 years ago. Even a woman with a university degree and ,a hill time job Turn to page 2A •