A lack of opportunities for female leadership in the workforce and in politics is forcing women’s issues — like pay inequity and lack of child care — into the shadows and keeping low-income women and their children poor, according to a University of B.C. law professor.
“We (still) don’t have pay equity and (consequently) we have one of the highest rates of child poverty because those children’s mothers are poor,” said Margot Young, associate professor of law at UBC with a speciality in equality rights and women’s economic equality.
She said without political will, nothing will change for the better.
“We have to make it (affordable) to be a primary caregiver and a paid labourer,” Young said.
“A provincial government that sat down and reinstated a ministry of women’s equality would be a big step, (as would) a coherent poverty strategy.”
She added women are a “tremendous resource” that are underused, and flexible workplace policies and access to universal, affordable health care would help us take advantage of the resources they offer.
“We’d be a healthier and happier society without the discrimination that we currently have,” Young said.
International Women’s Day
- One hundred years ago today, the first International Women’s Day was celebrated to recognize the achievements of women
- Today it’s used as a platform to celebrate how far we’ve come toward gender equality and highlight the distance we still need to go
- This year’s theme is Equal Access to Education, Training and Science: Pathway to Decent Work for Women
