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Pay Equity Resources

Every year, we mark Equal Pay Day.  For the past few years, Equal Pay Day has been held around the third week in April.

Why?

Because it takes until April for Ontario women to earn as much as men made by December 31 of the previous year. Women are “in the red” because on average they earn about 30% less than men.  There is still a significant gap in earning for work of equal value. The gap is even bigger for racialized women, women with disabilities and Aboriginal women.

The Goals of Equal Pay Day are:


  • To raise awareness and mobilize actions so that the often hidden and illegal gender pay gap becomes a discussion topic in the media and in the workplace;
  • To demand that governments and companies change their compensation and employment policies which contribute to the pay gap;
  • To ensure employers have pay equity plans in place to close their pay gaps which are maintained to take account of “changed circumstances”;
  • To have Equal Pay Day recognized earlier each year as the pay gap decreases and disappears.
  • We need your community expertise and assistance at the local level. I am urging you to contact your municipal council to build support and declare April 9 as Equal Pay Day. 


Here is a PowerPoint presentation on the roots of the gender wage gap and two major strategies to close that gap: Click here to view or download the presentation.


Ontario pay equity
                  campaign - Spring 2008

Above: Members of the Ontario Equal Pay Coalition
pass out campaign materials in downtown Toronto,
February 2008

  • The Equal Pay Coalition, based in Ontario, has re-developed its website, with loads of resources. Click here to explore that site (equalpaycoalition.org)
  • The International Labour Organization (ILO) has published a very helpful guide to pay equity job evaluation, written by a pay equity expert from Quebec, Marie-Thérèse Chicha.

    Promoting equity: Gender-neutral job evaluation for equal pay. A step-by-step guide.

    Click here for the PDF version of the document from the ILO publications site.

    The ILO document is also available in Spanish and French.