For Immediate Release
3 May, 2022
NL NDP Critic for Women and Gender Equity and MHA for Torngat Mountains, Lela Evans, was disappointed to hear Minister Parsons say that her department is taking steps towards pay equity by introducing a $10 a day childcare program. While this program is valuable for families and single parents around the province, it does not address the gender wage gap.
“Childcare is not just a women’s issue, and it isn’t a substitute for action to permanently fix income inequality. It will not directly help all women and gender diverse individuals in our province when it comes to income inequality,” Evans says. “Using the Childcare program as an excuse to not take concrete, planned action to defeating the gender wage gap in Newfoundland and Labrador is not only unrelated, but enforces a sexist stereotype that childcare assistance only benefits women.”
The NL NDP is frustrated that the Minister continues to talk about the ongoing work being done in her department since the 1980’s, yet, in those forty years, we have yet to see concrete plans to move forward and finally address the gender wage gap in Newfoundland and Labrador.
“It was very concerning to hear the Minister tell media this government’s inaction on legislation is to be blamed on the lack of resources available to her department. Is this the level of importance this government puts on women and gender equity? What’s the point of having a Minister to begin with if they cannot advance the file?”
Newfoundland and Labrador currently has the largest gender pay gap in Canada, with women on average earning .66 cents to every $1 made by male counterparts, and is the only province in Atlantic Canada without an equal pay legislation.
“Income equity directly helps every women and gender diverse individual in this province, not just those with children,” Evans says. “What we need to do is work together to push forward the message that equal work deserves equal pay, regardless of gender identity. Telling women in this province that the only help they can get towards pay equity is a childcare program is another example of how this government just doesn’t get it.”
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For further information, contact Stephanie Curran, Media Relations Manager, NDP Caucus at (o) 709.330.0328 or (e) stephaniecurran@gov.nl.ca