Gender equity has not been achieved – take a closer look
Melanie Nott
In his article “Gender equity achieved – let’s move on,” published in the September 7 issue of the Manitoban, Dave Berry states that equality between the sexes has been reached. He bases this on the fact that the number of women who graduated from medical school last year outnumbers men, showing that women can exceed men’s achievements in a traditionally male-dominated field. He also predicts that this shift will result in a decrease in the wage gap that exists between women and men.
Gender equity is fair treatment of women and men for the purpose of creating equality between them. Treating women and men exactly the same is not equity because this fails to produce equal results for both genders. The lack of evolution of gender roles and the different conditions men and women experience are factors that contribute to the inequality that exists. Equity means giving each gender what it needs to reach equality and not just what the other gender already has.
While the enrolment of women in universities is higher than ever before, even surpassing men in some cases, women still face an educational gap as well as several other barriers to equity. According to Statistics Canada, men still attain 60 per cent of post-graduate degrees and, as mentioned by Berry, still greatly outnumber women in traditionally male-dominated fields such as the physical sciences and law. Most of the degrees women earn are in areas to which women have traditionally been restricted, such as health sciences and psychology. Traditional gender roles (and not “happenstance preferences”) still direct the educational paths of many women and men.
Berry suggests the wage gap between women and men will decrease when this more progressive generation of graduates (with a higher proportion of females) replaces the older generation at the top of corporate and political ladders. Unfortunately, there is more required to reach overall equality than just educational equity. According to Statistics Canada, for full-time, full-year work, women earn only 73 per cent of what men earn. When the same criteria are modified to include only men and women with university degrees, women’s earning is only increased to 74 per cent of that of men’s. Having a university degree does not make a difference in the wage gap. A much more decisive factor is the role women have pertaining to the household.
Roles relating to unpaid labour have not evolved with the rest of the women’s movement. The labour that women perform in maintaining a household and caring for their families is undervalued. Women who choose to have children struggle to meet both their children’s financial needs, through work, and their many other needs, through spending time at home with them.
This unpaid labour often restricts the number of hours of paid labour women can work and thus the jobs available to them and the salary they can earn. Having a male partner makes little difference because 80 per cent of women also carry the burden of doing most or all of the work involved in running a household, where both the woman and her partner are working full time all year. This is ridiculous; there is no “biological difference” keeping men from sweeping the floor or changing diapers. Many women have achieved high standings in traditionally male-dominated roles but most men have not done their part by picking up the slack in female-dominated roles in the household. Working an unpaid second shift is not equity.
The levels of women in poverty show that many women face severe socio-economic disadvantages that prevent them from reaching equality. The rates of poverty are highest and the wage gap is largest for women who are disabled, Aboriginal, a member of a visible minority, immigrants, over the age of 65, single, or single with children. For example, over half (56 per cent) of single women with children live in poverty, versus only 24 per cent of single men with children.
Perhaps because he has only been “on the periphery of it,” Berry has ignored the many obstacles women still face. The battle has not been won. People who think it has represent a step backward from the gender equity we seek and a slap in the face to women who are experiencing inequity every day.
Melanie Nott is a second-year Arts student.
