Gender Equality Week 2024: Women deserve a better deal
Large corporations are worsening the affordability crisis for workers and their families, causing the cost of housing, groceries, and other necessities to skyrocket. This crisis hurts everyone, but it’s significantly more challenging for those who already have limited access to resources, including women and gender-diverse people.
In Canada, sixty percent of minimum wageworkers are women, almost a third of women live in homes that are unaffordable, inadequately sized, or in disrepair, and according to a 2023 Statistics Canada report, 21 percent of families with a female major income earner were food insecure versus 16% with a male major earner and food insecurity was highest among female lone parent families (41%).
Canadian workers reject the politics of hate and division peddled by conservatives. We know everyone is being squeezed, and we demand that each party get serious and commit to real solutions that pave the way for a better future.
Take action for Gender Equality Week 2024! Join our Workers Together campaign and tell federal political leaders:
We demand a better deal that makes corporations pay their fair share so workers can finally get ahead.
By making wealthy corporations pay their due in taxes, we can reinvest in the things that keep our communities strong, like programs to make life more affordable, our care systems, and ensuring everyone has a place to call home.
We demand pharmacare: workers need a better deal that finally puts our needs first.
Overall, too many workers can’t afford medications due to corporate greed and conservative efforts to protect corporate profits. In particular, women are more likely than men not to fill their prescription drugs because of cost – whether or not they have drug insurance.
We demand a better deal that prioritizes care and care workers.
Women make up most of the paid and unpaid care economy, and jobs caring for children, older adults, and people with disabilities tend to be underpaid and precarious.
Care workers look after our children, parents, and loved ones, yet conservative provincial and federal leaders prioritize cuts over supporting them. It’s no wonder there are worker shortages in health care, childcare, and other care sectors, and childcare is becoming harder to find.
We demand a better deal that prioritizes good jobs and a say in our future.
Extreme weather events are threatening our lives and livelihoods. Rising temperatures cause intense wildfires, water scarcity, droughts and displacement; it’s also projected to cause income losses for Canadians, especially low-income households.
Climate change disproportionately impacts the cultures, traditions and economies of Indigenous peoples and the traditional roles of Indigenous women, girls, and gender-diverse people in their communities. Extreme weather events have also been shown to increase the demand for services related to intimate partner violence.
It’s time to demand a deal for workers that puts us at the forefront, paving the way for a better future. Let’s work together and make our voices heard.
CLC Executive Vice-President, Siobhán Vipond: “Wage gaps are widening because of the unequal impacts of the affordability crisis, with little relief in sight. Women are over-represented in part-time and low-paying jobs, while women and gender-diverse people are more likely to be inadequately housed and food insecure. When the costs of basic necessities like food, housing and utilities go up, these longstanding inequalities are compounded. It’s time for the federal government to act.” CLC President, Bea Bruske: “Rising prices have led to skyrocketing profits for the wealthiest people and corporations, while everyone else is stuck footing the bill. Workers are fed up having to subsidize the lavish lifestyle of Canada’s multi-millionaires and billionaires. Their bill is due, and it’s time for these profiteers to pay up. The federal government has a duty to make big corporations and investors pay what they owe and put that money back into social programming that supports workers and our families.”
CLC President, Bea Bruske: “Rising prices have led to skyrocketing profits for the wealthiest people and corporations, while everyone else is stuck footing the bill. Workers are fed up having to subsidize the lavish lifestyle of Canada’s multi-millionaires and billionaires. Their bill is due, and it’s time for these profiteers to pay up. The federal government has a duty to make big corporations and investors pay what they owe and put that money back into social programming that supports workers and our families.”
