Ontario’s Pay Equity Office celebrates international communications award for Level the Paying Field series

Ontario’s Pay Equity Office celebrates international communications award for Level the Paying Field series

11 Aug 2022

For more than 40 years, the Gold Quill Awards of the International Association of Business Communicators have recognized communications work from around the world that soars above the average, taking public communication to new heights. The 2022 Gold Quill Award of Merit, widely acknowledged as one of the most prestigious forms of recognition in the industry, was awarded to Ontario’s Pay Equity Office for its topical and impactful campaign – Level the Paying Field – exploring topics related to economics, equity, women, work and wage equity.​

“The economic impacts of pay inequity are large and measurable. We wanted to know more about gender and pay equity’s resurgence as an imperative to post-COVID economic recovery,” says Kadie Ward, Commissioner and CAO of Ontario’s Pay Equity Commission. The team at the Pay Equity Office set out to achieve this via a 6-part video and podcast series called Level the Paying Field in which Commissioner Ward hosts a series of compelling discussions about gender wage gaps and how to close them, with experts from the International Labour Organization, Harvard Business School, the University of Toronto, and more.

Join Ontario’s Pay Equity Office in celebrating this award-winning campaign that elevates the equity conversation to make the world a more equitable place for women to work, live, and thrive, and support closing the gender wage gap.

The gender pay gap in the health and care sector: A global analysis in the time of COVID-19

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The gender pay gap in the health and care sector: A global analysis in the time of COVID-19
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Dr. Zara Nanu, CEO and Co-Founder of Gapsquare, is awarded MBE for services on tackling global workplace inequalities

Dr. Zara Nanu, CEO and Co-Founder of Gapsquare, is awarded MBE for services on tackling global workplace inequalities

1 Jul 2022

Dr. Zara Nanu, CEO and Co-Founder of Gapsquare, part of XpertHR, was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Jubilee Birthday Honours list in recognition of her services on tackling global workplace inequalities and promoting fairness and inclusion.

Zara founded Gapsquare after hearing that it would take 217 years before the Gender Pay Gap could be closed. At the same time, it was said that by 2030, we’ll be in self-driving cars, and we’d be on our way to Mars. Zara recognised that these incredible advancements were possible because of the use of data, AI and tech and to achieve similar leaps in progress for pay disparity and workplace inclusion, there was potential to harness the same innovations to accelerate much needed social change.

Zara’s commitment to ensuring diversity and inclusion began in her native Moldova where she worked to bring an end to exploitative people trafficking rings which forced women into sweatshops. It’s with this same determination that Zara has sought to bring equality to the workplace by founding Gapsquare in 2016; harnessing data and AI technology to help organisations put a stop to biases and prejudicial practices preventing equality.

As part of her commitment, Zara is focused on creating a better world of work, one that has fairness at its core and is not held back by patriarchal structures and works tirelessly to ensure that pay equality is placed firmly on the national agenda.

Zara recognises that there is no quick fix when it comes to resolving pay inequality, but it is vital that organisations take active steps towards building a better future. The impact of the pandemic means that the time it will take to close the global gender gap has increased by a generation from 99.5 years to 135.6 years. Because of this, Zara is on a mission to focus on change at a global level, bringing Gapsquare to the US, and continuing to work with leaders in the UK to deliver meaningful change for a fairer and more inclusive future of work.

Gapsquare provides business leaders with actionable insights about their company’s existing pay gaps through their flagship software FairPay® Pro. To date, the organisation has helped over 80 organisations across the UK create fairer workplaces, including working with Wieden + Kennedy, Condé Nast and Accenture. Zara is taking Gapsquare’s mission to end pay inequality global, working with business leaders to get pay equity on the agenda and implementing the pay technology in the United States.

A leading voice in the campaign for positive change and action, Zara is Chair of the Women in Business Task Group and a member of the Global Future Council on Equity and Social Justice at the World Economic Forum. She has also been recently appointed to the Shinkwin Commission focusing on diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

EPIC and the importance of combatting gender wage disparitites highlighted at CSW side event

EPIC and the importance of combatting gender wage disparitites highlighted at CSW side event

29 Jun 2022

On the occasion of the 66th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, an online panel discussion on Equal Work, Equal Pay: Reducing the Gender Pay Gap was organized as a side event by the UN’s Civil Society Youth Team.

This panel discussion which was moderated by Cairo Eubanks, Youth Representative of the New Future Foundation International, brought to the forefront, the challenges and successes in advancing more equitable economic opportunities for women across the globe from different backgrounds. Panelists included Shannnon Williams, leader of the Equal Pay Today campaign; Ishaan Shah an 18-year-old international anti-human trafficking, gender equality and climate action young leader; Samira Khan, a senior operations manager at Microsoft; Lina Al Qaddoumi, Gender Equality Manager at the United Nations Global Compact; and Lisa Wong, Senior Speciaist on non-discrimination at the ILO. Panelists shared good practices that serve to combat wage disparities based on gender and race while highlighting the critical role of women in decision-making processes.

Additionally, the important role of EPIC as a the only multi-stakeholder coalitiion actively promoting the principle of equal pay for work of equal value, and working torwards reducing the gender pay gap, was highlighted by both the Global Compact, a key EPIC member and the ILO, a member of the EPIC Secretiarat. The event which was attended by participants from all over the world, played a strong role in highlighting frameworks for combating gender and race-based wage disparities and the importance of achieving equitable economic opportunities for women.

This 90 minute event may be accessed here

NATIONAL PLAN FOR WAGE EQUALITY FOR 2022-2025

NATIONAL PLAN FOR WAGE EQUALITY FOR 2022-2025

29 Jun 2022

A press release by Ministry of Labour and Workforce Development of Panama

As a post-pandemic strategy for the economic reactivation of the country, representatives of Government, labour and employer sector, presented this Monday, April 25, 2022, the National Plan for Equal Pay 2022-2025 of the Republic of Panama, being the outcome of shared work between government entities with the technical support of UN Women and the International Labour Organization (ILO).

During the state of emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the productive sector was affected at the national level, so the National Government activated dialogues through tripartite round tables, from which emerged proposals to strengthen formal employability, as well as economic support to families that had ceased to receive fixed incomes.

Another aspect relevant to salary payments is the gender salary gap, estimated at 11.5% in Panama, according to a UN Women study. This reality has prompted the proposal of strategies for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in the country.

The Minister of Labour and Labour Development, Doris Zapata Acevedo, said: “Today we have materialized the commitment to equality. For years we have heard the clamour of women demanding equal treatment, so from the National Government we took immediate action in this regard, leading by example from day one, opening spaces for the participation of women, as a way of recognizing the value and preparation of competent women to lead work structures and make decisions”.

At the presentation ceremony, the mechanisms for coordination, follow-up, monitoring and evaluation of the Plan were explained, which establishes what is necessary to ensure the correct development of functions, under the application of ILO Convention No. 100 on equal remuneration, ratified by Panama in 1958.

For the effectiveness of this Plan, the leading and collaborating entities will be differentiated for each of the measures, through the creation of Working Groups, as a governance mechanism that integrates all the actors.

The Ministry Labour and Workforce Development (MITRADEL), together with the Ministry of Social Development (MIDES) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic, jointly maintain programs and projects that contribute to wage equality, gender equality and women’s empowerment, such as the Gender Equality Seal Project for Private Enterprises.

On December 31, 2021, under the enactment of Executive Decree No. 74, the new minimum hourly wage rates were set, according to economic activity, occupation and size of companies, throughout the national territory according to region 1 and 2, which began to apply from January 16, 2022.

Read more about the event here

 

A press release by Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Panama

Pay transparency legislation: Implications for employers’ and workers’ organizations

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Pay transparency legislation: Implications for employers’ and workers’ organizations

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Equal pay is everyone’s business: all engaged in advancing women’s economic empowerment

Equal pay is everyone’s business: all engaged in advancing women’s economic empowerment

29 Mar 2022

The Government of Canada organized a virtual side event on March 22, 2022, in collaboration with the Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC), and co-sponsored by the United Kingdom, during the 66th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW66).

The side event focused on the key role that governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations all have to play in order to address the gender pay gap. Opening remarks were delivered by the Honourable Seamus O’Regan Jr., Minister of Labour, Government of Canada. Minister O’Regan outlined the main elements of Canada’s Pay Equity Act and stated that “when Canadian women can count on equal pay for work of equal value, our economy will be stronger. It’s not just the right thing to do, it’s the smart move from a macroeconomic perspective”. Canada’s Federal Pay Equity Commissioner took the floor at the end of the event to underline that Canada’s Pay Equity Act was based on three pillars– education, enforcement/compliance, and dispute resolution– that are all instrumental in advancing pay equity.

Representatives from governments (New Zealand, United States, United Kingdom), employers’ (Barbados Employers Confederation) and workers’organizations (Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU)) took part in a panel discussion. They highlighted the importance of their respective roles, how a tripartite and collaborative approach is essential, and shared good practices to this effect. Some of the key points raised during the panel discussion were:

• The importance of pay transparency measures and reporting, including support for small to medium-sized enterprises. Pay transparency reporting is crucial to know where the gaps are in order to address them. It is vital to get employers and businesses engaged and to identify key leaders to facilitate this approach.

• Governments have a role to play in terms of developing and adopting laws, policies, and regulatory frameworks. Governments also have to lead by example. Follow-up actions and advocacy efforts by governments are crucial, such as sharing information and best practices with the workers and the employers on how to best close the gender pay gap. This ensures a consistent approach.

• Unions have a key role to play to address gender pay gaps, such as providing training on this complex issue and advocating to ensure that equal pay is advanced for all women, including in precarious work.

• Governments can also work with workers’ organizations to provide additional information on the gender pay gap, including on the rights of workers and what actions they can take.

• Equal pay must be part of a broader series of measures to advance gender equality. For example, maternity leave, child care, care leave, increasing minimum wages, training and apprenticeships for women, career counselling, right to organize and collective bargaining, and addressing discrimination, violence and harassment in the workplace.

• The necessity to address gender occupational segregation (women that are overrepresented in undervalued jobs) and take into consideration the needs of other groups that often experience discrimination, such as Indigenous and racialized peoples. An approach based on intersectionality can be helpful in this regard. Pay equity work assessment tools, that recognize the unique competencies of specific groups, are also an interesting option.

One of the main takeaways stressed by the speakers was that collaborative efforts are more than ever needed if we want to continue to make significant strides in advancing equal pay. All agreed that equal pay should indeed be everyone’s business.

Women’s Empowerment: a driving force for economic recovery and beyond

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Women’s Empowerment: a driving force for economic recovery and beyond
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