The word “feminism” may not evoke much sympathy now compared to the past. Especially in progressive countries such as Canada, it may seem less vital to focus on women’s rights than other minorities’ rights. However, the liberation of women from patriarchy still has a long way to go. Patriarchy persists in modern society, despite women’s historical efforts to destroy it, forbidding women today from succeeding as much as they should. One example of such a case is poverty. At first glance, the poverty rate in women may not seem that much greater than the poverty rate in men: according to LEAF (Women’s Legal Education & Action Fund), around 12% of Canadian women experience poverty while 11% of Canadian men do so. Nevertheless, there is a disproportionate jump in poverty rate in minority groups of women: 51.6% of single mothers leading a family and 41.5% of single, widowed, divorced women over 65 are affected by poverty. Furthermore, 35% of women on their own under 65, 44% of Indigenous women living off reserve and 47% of Indigenous women living on-reserve experience poverty.
One noticeable trend in such statistics is that women who live without men, whether it’s because they are single, widowed, divorced, are much more likely to live in poverty. Why is that so? After all, don’t we live in 2022 where we’d expect women to be financially independent from men and able to get a job, rather than staying in the old, passive gender role of “caregiver”? The Canadian Women’s Foundation addresses these questions. One of the main reasons women are more vulnerable to poverty than men is because they spend 50% more time on unpaid work such as chores, childcare, and eldercare (Fletcher, 2017). It is an uncomfortable truth that even in modern days, and even in progressive countries, the primary caretaker is seen as women and men merely remain as a helper. Humans are social animals, and society doesn’t put as much pressure on men as they put on women to do housework. We often see people compliment men for doing housework as good husbands, whereas when women do housework, it is only considered natural; for men, doing housework is simply a favor they give to their wives, only encouraged by society but not pressured.
Another important cause of poverty in women is what many may expect: the gender pay gap. In Canada, women earn 87 cents per one dollar men earn (“The gender pay gap”, 2022). The gap is even greater when it comes to specific minority groups of women: Indigenous women earn 65 cents, racialized women earn 67 cents and disabled women only earn 54 cents per one dollar earned by non-Indigenous, non-racialized, able-bodied men (“The gender pay gap”, 2022). The term gender pay gap brings many misunderstandings. It brings about naivety, as people believe that the term means that women are paid less for the exact same work that they are performing as men. Uninformed people, not understanding the causes and definition of the gender pay gap, believe that gender pay gap is a myth, since in their mind, businesses wouldn’t be irrational so as to pay men more than women when they can simply save money by not doing so. However, before introducing the proper definition of gender pay gap, I would also like to state that businesses aren’t as rational as one may expect… Think of the pink tax! For instance, an antifungal cream marketed to women is sold at a price 21 percent higher than men’s, even though the cream contains the exact same ingredients and only differ in labels and descriptions (“Pink tax”). Similar cases are prominent in other products including deodorant, shampoo, soap and razors. Additionally, women have to pay for items that are necessary for them, such as sanitary pads, even though they should be free. Evidently, pink tax is another contributing factor in women’s higher poverty rate than men.
Gender pay gap defined by OECD is simply a difference between median earnings in men versus women. The pay gap is caused by women taking the bulk of unpaid work, as mentioned before, and occupational segregation in which female-dominated professions tend to be less paid than male-dominated professions. For example, traditional employment for women, such as teachers, earn $25,334 per year in median, whilst traditional men’s work such as truck drivers earn $45,417 per year in median (“The gender pay gap”, 2022). Traditional women’s work is often undervalued because it is analogous to domestic work, which used to be free and is often taken for granted. Furthermore, research findings show that wages become devalued after women take up a large bulk of industry.
Poverty among women inevitably brings up the need to address the gender pay gap. The process may not be simple. But we may start with a stronger demand for an equal share of housework and childcare between women and men, not only in our own lives, but at a political, governmental level, as well. Similarly, we must advocate for higher pay in women-dominated professions, and actively encourage women to work in male-dominated professions.
Works Cited
Fletcher, R. (2017, June 1). Women spend 50% more time doing unpaid work than men: Statistics canada | CBC News. CBCnews. Retrieved January 15, 2022, from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/men-women-housework-unpaid-statistics-canada-1.4141367#:~:text=CBC%20News%20Loaded-,Women%20spend%2050%25%20more%20time%20doing%20unpaid%20work%20than%20men,new%20data%20from%20Statistics%20Canada.
Pink tax. Canadian Labour Institute. (n.d.). Retrieved January 18, 2022, from http://www.canadianlabourinstitute.org/story/pink-tax
The gender pay gap: Wage gap in Canada: The Facts. Canadian Women’s Foundation. (2022, January 12). Retrieved January 14, 2022, from https://canadianwomen.org/the-facts/the-gender-pay-gap/
Women and poverty – leaf. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14, 2022, from https://www.leaf.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/WomenPovertyFactSheet.pdf
Written By: Erica Kim
Edited By: Zuairia Shahrin
Campus UNICEF 