Women and Political Representation in Canada

Chapter 3: Employment Equality Strategies and Their Representation in the Political Process in Canada, 1970-1994

3 Employment EqualityStrategies and Their Representation in the Political Process in Canada,1970-1994 JULIA S. O'CONNOR, McMasterUniversity Introduction This paper outlines the key gender equality strategies relating to employment that have been developed in Canada since 1970 and asks how they have been represented in the political process. It further asks if the dominant mode of representation has set limits on the strategies considered. Two of the strategies—child care and maternity and parental leave and benefits—facilitate labour market participation and two—pay equity and employment equity—enhance its quality.Areview of these dimensions of public policy and their representation in the political process demonstrates the influence of several factors, including royal commission reports, the policy machinery relating to women's issues, the federal government's obligations under key UN and ILO treaties, the women's movement, labour unions, and, to a lesser extent, political parties. In section 1,1 consider child care and maternity and parental leave and point out that despite a marked increase in labour force participation by women, especially women with preschool children, over the past 25 years there is still a very low level of public child care provision, and maternity and especially parental leave and benefits are low relative to many OECD countries. In section 2, I discuss employment and pay equity policies and the persistence ofrelatively high female-male pay differentials and gender-based occupational segregation. In each of these sections I pay some attention to how these issues have been represented in the policy process and this representation and its influence on the strategies adopted are considered in greater detail in section 3. In the final section, I consider the implications of economic restructuring for the strategies adopted to date 86 WOMEN AND POLITICAL REPRESENTATION IN CANADA and the limitations associated with the dominant mode of representation for changing these strategies. Section 1:MeasuresFacilitating Labour Force Participation There was a marked increase in the labour force participation of women with young children in Canada throughout the 1980s. This is reflected in the increase in the participation of women with children under age 16from 50%in 1981 to 63%in 1993 (StatisticsCanada 1993a). The increase was particularly marked for women with preschool children. Whereas42%of these women were in the labour force in 1981, 56% were participating in 1993. The trend was in the same direction for women with children under three years—55% were participating in 1993 compared to 39%in 1981. These increases are reflected in a change in the pattern of female labour force participation over the life cycle. The Canadian pattern is now coming close to that of Sweden, where withdrawal from the labour force is infrequent, but there are major differences in the conditions of participation in the two countries. Whereas as in Sweden ongoing participation is facilitated by long maternity and parental leave, extensive child care provision and the option of reduced working hours, the high Canadian participation is being achieved with low levels of support in terms of parental leave and especially child care. Maternity and Parental Leave Maternity leave and benefit in Canada date from 1971, although some provinces did not introduce the leave until the end of the decade. Maternity leave varies by province but is generally 17to 18weeks and 15weeks are paid at 55%replacement rate and subject to a fairly modest weekly limit.1 Leave provision is governed by employment standards legislation, federal or provincial, and benefits are governed by the Employment Insurance Act,formerly the Unemployment InsuranceAct; this has the effect that one may be entitled to benefits and not to leave. Despite this, 89% of all maternity leaves were compensated in 1991 compared to 77%in 1980. While unemployment insurance benefit was the only compensation in 77% of cases in 1991, some collective agreements include both maternity leave and benefit provisions that improve on national standards. In addition, payments may be made and/or increased and the length of leave may be extended by employers—this generally happens the public sector and in jobs at the EMPLOYMENT EQUALITY STRATEGIES 87 higher end of the occupational spectrum (Heitlinger 1993, 213-215). In other words, supplementary leave and benefit provisions reinforce the good jobs/bad jobs segmentation of the labour force.2 In 1991,17%of women received unemployment insurance benefits plus other benefits such as full or partial pay from employers or group insurance and 6...