Although pay equity is the law in Ontario, women, on average, earn 31% less than men. This pay gap affects women of all ages and education levels.

Women are often paid less, even when their skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions are similar to men’s. Women of colour, Aboriginal women and women with disabilities face the worst discrimination.

The good news is that we’ve come a long way in the last forty years. People have stood up across the province to support each other and demand that governments and employers take action to close the pay gap.

If you believe in building an Ontario where men and women are equal, then we need your help for a major push to close the gap for good.

Ontario can close the gap now if we all work together. Here’s how:

Problem: Women are the face of child and family poverty.

Solution: Raise the minimum wage above the poverty line. Provide parents with access to affordable childcare. Support unions.

Problem: Pay equity is a human right, but our government and employers don’t treat it like a top priority.

Solution: Pay equity’s goal is to stop discrimination related to the under-valuation of work traditionally performed by women. We need to:

• Expand and enforce the pay equity laws that are already on the books.
• Make sure women have access to collective bargaining at work.

Problem: The gender pay gap has become normalized.

Solution: Join the global movement and declare Equal Pay Day. Equal Pay Day illustrates how far into the next year a woman must work to earn the same amount a man made in the previous year.

Ontario Equal Pay Day 2014 = April 16th

This way we can track our progress as we work together to close the gap for good.