[Name of the Writer]

[Name of Instructor]

[Subject]

[Date]

The Gender Wage Gap in Canada

Introduction

Gender gap refers to the differences in pay between men and women assuming equal amount of labor. Such a difference has been observed in various categories on occupations especially in those occupations that are considered “Male Only” occupations. In olden times “Male Only” occupations included professions related to blacksmithing, engineering, construction etc… Even in these modern times, certain professions have a “Male Only” connotation attached to them such as professions in finance, stock broking and military services. In these professions, the ratio of male to female will be lopsided leaning greatly towards the males.

Throughout the course of history, women have largely been underpaid compared to men on various jobs. By reading evidence on history, we can conclude that women choosing to work in such “Male Only” professions were highly underpaid compared to their male counter parts. On most cases women were discouraged from even working in such jobs. Many women throughout history had considered this gender gap a form of injustice and thus had regularly fought to achieve what they felt was their rightful share of the income. During the 1960s and 1970s, the issues concerning women's pay were placed on top priority; however, economists have had an interest in this gender gap dating as far back as the 1890s (Aldrich, 1989).

History

As mentioned, the gender gap has been a concern among many since over a century. World War 2 was a time when most of the males were busy fighting the war. Such a situation caused a massive shortage of labor in various industries causing these industries to suffer massive losses. During these times, the industry started hiring women for jobs previously considered “Men Only”. To attract more females to apply for the positions, the industry owners started offering similar pays to the women laborers. A campaign was even started by the government involving various techniques to attract women; the government even called for husbands of women to encourage their wives into working for the industries. As a result, a surge of women laborers working in high skilled and high pay jobs began to materialize (Aldrich, 1989).

Unfortunately for such women, after the war had ended, the industries returned to the status quo and replaced all these women with men after these men returned back from the war. Women were back to their underpaid and low skill jobs as the government had only temporarily attracted these women to fill the labor shortage of the industries caused by the war.

Canadian Labor Market

University Education

Canada has come a long way forward in terms of women participation and bias in the labor market. Several surveys have been carried out throughout Canada to understand the Labor Market situation of Canada. These surveys found out that of women who were between 25 and 54, 80 percent of such women had participated in the Labor Market. Of these women who had participated in the labor market, the percent of women holding a university of degree ...