Equal Pay Day symbolizes how far into 2024 the average woman must work in order to have earned what the average man had earned in 2023.
Early childhood educators, child care workers and all members of the early learning & child care workforce are key to closing the the gender pay gap and building a better, more just world.
Workers in female-dominated professions - especially sectors related to caring for people and communities, like early learning & child care, education, social services, elder care, etc. provide essential social infrastructure. By helping, teaching and caring for people, workers in these sectors ensure society can function.
Communities cannot thrive without the ECEs, child care workers, teachers, social service & education workers, personal support workers, nurses and others who provide these critical services.
Yet the people doing this work are drastically overworked, undervalued & underpaid.
These workers face specific barriers to financial parity with those in comparable male-dominated fields that require similar education and training. Women and gender-diverse folks make up about 95% of the early childhood education and care workforce. Fair wages for ECEs and child care workers is a major gender justice issue.
Pay equity is not a privilege or a frill.
It is the law. Discriminatory pay gaps are a violation of human rights.
This Equal Pay Day, tell your MPP to invest in community services and close the gender pay gap.
TAKE ACTION
For information about the gender pay gap and Equal Pay Day, check out the Equal Pay Coalition.
Learn more by reading the Coalition's open letter to Ontario political party leaders.
On April 16, show your support for gender equity by sending this letter to Ontario MPPs and sharing the Equal Pay Coalition's content on social media, tagging them on Instagram at @equalpaycoalition, and using the hashtag #EqualPayDay.
Bear witness to gender inequity - check out Voices from Equal Pay Day 2024 and hear firsthand accounts from women workers in Ontario about the conditions they’re facing, and the support they need now.