Canadian Women Earn 21% Less Than Men

The Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) recently posted this graph showing the gender wage gap between median men's and women's wages. I was surprised to see that Canada's gender gap is 21% - substantially higher than the average (17.6%) for OECD countries.



This means that for every $100 a Canadian woman makes, a man doing the same job makes $121. Canada even scored worse than the USA, whose gender gap is 19%. Poland, New Zealand and Belgium are leading the way in closing the gender gap - in these countries the gap is 10% or less.



The OECD reports:

"Even though most OECD countries have laws requiring equal pay between the sexes, women still earn less than men on average... Why do these differences persist? Discrimination is part of the answer. Women are also more likely to be in low-paid occupations and less likely to get promoted – in most countries the earnings gap is bigger among higher-paid workers. Childcare responsibilities mean women are also more likely to work part-time."

More Women than Men in the Workplace, but We're Still Paid Less

The Toronto Star reports that "it has finally happened." More Canadian women than men were in paid employment during the first half of 2009, according to Statistics Canada.

But does this historic milestone hold any promise for women in their longstanding battle for economic equality?

Women still make up about 70 per cent of part-time workers and 60 per cent of minimum wage earners. Forty per cent are employed in precarious jobs that are generally poorly paid with little or no job security or benefits such as pensions. And the average full-time, full-year female worker still earns just 71.4 cents for every dollar earned by a man working similar hours, according to the latest Statistics Canada data from 2007.

Read the full article here.

Lap Dancers Make More $$$ When Fertile

Something we discussed last night on our radio program was how women's menstrual cycles and our pheromones affect our sexual attraction to others, and their attraction to us. Studies have shown that when women are ovulating (fertile), men find them more attractive. Naturally, when a woman is on a hormonal contraceptive (such as the birth control pill), it suppresses ovulation and thus does not achieve the same effect.

While cruising the internet today, I came across a study from 2007 that found that lap dancers make more money in tips when they are ovulating. Here's a clip from the study abstract:

...we examined ovulatory cycle effects on tip earnings by professional lap dancers working in gentlemen's clubs. Eighteen dancers recorded their menstrual periods, work shifts, and tip earnings for 60 days on a study web site. A mixed-model analysis of 296 work shifts (representing about 5300 lap dances) showed an interaction between cycle phase and hormonal contraception use. Normally cycling participants earned about US$335 per 5-h shift during estrus [ovulation/fertile], US$260 per shift during the luteal phase [infertile], and US$185 per shift during menstruation. By contrast, participants using contraceptive pills showed no estrous earnings peak. These results constitute the first direct economic evidence for the existence and importance of estrus in contemporary human females, in a real-world work setting. These results have clear implications for human evolution, sexuality, and economics.

Iris Evans Ignites Furor Over "Raising Kids Right"

Alberta's Finance Minister, Iris Evans, is in hot water over some recent comments she made regarding child rearing. Evans was in Toronto this week speaking about the importance of teaching children financial literacy, when she said that good parenting means sacrificing some income to stay at home while kids are young, as her children have done.

“They’ve understood perfectly well that when you’re raising children you don’t both go off to work and leave them for somebody else to raise,” Ms. Evans said. “This is not a statement against daycare. It’s a statement about their belief in the importance of raising children properly.”

Naturally, this has sparked outrage and debate across the country. I won't write too much about it here, because you can read plenty of articles online about it (this one and this one are good), but I will say this:

When you're a Minister in the provincial government, you can't say shit like this. Period. For most families, their financial reality is that both parents must work in order to earn enough income. Also, there is no such thing as a "proper" or "correct" family. Whatever works for your family is what's right. 'Nuff said.

Ms. Evans has apologized for her remarks, but debate and anger continues to rage on.

While Economy Slumps, Birth Control Increases

The Los Angeles Times reports that the slumping economy is causing more women to inquire about abortion, adoption and long-term birth control options. And it’s not just the young single girls who want to avoid pregnancy. Married women who already have children are afraid to have another child while the threat of losing jobs is so high.



ACCESS, an Oakland-based women’s health organization, says 72% of women who call want information on abortion, which is up from 60% last year. A Chicago adoption agency has seen a 30% increase in pregnant women asking about adoption. Furthermore, a recent survey conducted for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists found that one in five women is more conscientious about using birth control, and one in ten married women say the economy is a factor in their decision to postpone a planned pregnancy.

Earth Friendly, Low-Cost Housing For Women in The Bronx

Nancy Biberman, founder of the Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corporation (WHEDCo), has done something that sets an example for low-income housing developers in urban areas.

Nancy has taken an old, rotting piece of property in The Bronx and converted it into eco-friendly housing for the poor. The site is called Intervale Green and, from the sounds of it, is a place that even those of us who don’t exactly fall under the low-income category would be happy to live.

It is the largest affordable apartment complex in the United States to receive a federal Energy Star certification. The appliances are all highly energy efficient and materials used for the interior include birch-esque vinyl flooring and Italian tiles donated by a flooring company. Light fixtures in and on the building are fluorescent. All of these features result in a 30 per cent decrease in utility costs in comparison to that of a conventional building.

Biberman has spent much of her career working on projects similar to Intervale Green; She has revamped over 23 abandoned buildings in The Bronx and is a dedicated advocate of improved housing for women (who make up the majority of low-income citizens) using eco-friendly solutions to make differences in poverty stricken communities.

I ‘m a firm believer that even the aesthetics of ones surroundings play a great role in the positivity of an individual’s outlook on life. Having the opportunity to live in an environment that isn’t laden with pests and decay has got to have an exceptional effect on the inhabitant.

I have great hopes for the lucky folks who will have the chance to dwell in a space like Intervale Green. Living in a building that has been constructed by organizations that have considered the residents’ place in society is likely to give any one a good boost in confidence as well as a sort of heightened self-esteem. As we’ve discussed in the past, self esteem might not be all there is… it’s just that there’s nothing without it.

Read the full article from AlterNet.org or watch the CNN feature below. You can find out about how to make a donation by visiting this link.

Crap Economy Forces Feminist Clinic to Close

Ms Magazine reports that the Women's Choice Clinic of Oakland, known as the United States' oldest feminist health clinic, will be closing as a result of the declining economy. Linci Comy, the clinic's executive director, explained that "To balance the state budget, California has frozen [Medi-Cal] payments for services already provided, and for us, that is a fatal decision. With that and issues of the economy, it all came down on us in March. Our landlord let us know we have to be out in a couple of weeks. We're looking at bankruptcy."

The clinic opened in 1972 and has seen more than 64,000 patients since then. In recent years, 90% of the clinic's patients received state aid or did not have health insurance.

It is a sad day indeed.