Backgrounder - New federal funding will help improve women’s economic security in Québec
Backgrounder
Status of Women Canada – Women’s Program
One of the ways Status of Women Canada advances gender equality is by providing funding to eligible organizations through the Women’s Program. Projects are selected via calls for proposals on specific themes, as well as through a continuous intake process that allows the Women’s Program to accept applications on an ongoing basis.
The Women’s Program funds projects of up to five years that address systemic barriers to women’s equality in three priority areas: ending violence against women and girls; improving the economic security of women and girls; and encouraging women and girls in leadership roles.
Calls for Proposals – Support for Women’s Economic Security and Addressing the Economic Security and Prosperity of Indigenous Women
On October 2, 2017, the Honourable Maryam Monsef, Minister of Status of Women, launched two calls for proposals. The first call, entitled Support for Women’s Economic Security, invited organizations to apply for funding for projects to address the economic security of women and help advance gender equality in Canada. More than 30 projects will receive a total of $10 million in funding through this call for proposals.
This call for proposals is divided into two themes; the first is Building Partnerships to Address Systemic Barriers, which provides funding to address major barriers that limit women’s economic security, including, but not limited to, the accessibility of childcare, the gender wage gap and pay inequity.
The second theme, Increasing Private Sector Leadership and Investments in Women, encourages organizations to partner with the private sector to find innovative solutions that will help advance women’s economic security.
The second call for proposals, entitled Addressing the Economic Security and Prosperity of Indigenous Women, invited organizations to foster collaboration between Indigenous women, Indigenous organizations, their communities, and the private sector to support the economic security and prosperity of Indigenous women across Canada. Fourteen projects across the country will receive more than $4.3 million in funding through this call for proposals.
Funded Project
Camo-route was created in 1990 and is the sectoral workforce committee for the Québec trucking industry. They join with sectoral, regional, employment, transport and education partners to identify human resource needs, increase worker mobility, strengthen the skills of the workforce and make training more accessible in all regions of the province.
Project description
Camo-route will receive $294,000 in funding for their project, “Women Truck Drivers: Target 10%.” Over the next three years, Camo-route will collaborate with key partners to identify and remove barriers that cause the under-representation of women in Quebec’s trucking industry. The project’s goal is to change current recruitment, integration and training practices of businesses and training centres so that more women can find jobs in the industry. Along with their partners, they will develop an action plan and then take concrete steps on the issue in six regions across Québec. Private businesses, training centres, the provincial trucking association and Via Prévention will contribute resources to develop and implement new tools, provide support for the sector and share new practices. An advisory committee of sector leaders will also be formed to ensure the proper governance of the project and that results are shared through province-wide trucking industry events, promotional activities and partners’ and stakeholders’ websites.
Statistics – Women’s Economic Security
In 2017, women accounted for about half of all employees in Québec, but about 7% of people employed in “transport and heavy equipment operation and related maintenance occupation.”
In Québec, the average hourly wage for those employed in “transport and heavy equipment operation and related maintenance occupations” was $21.06. The average hourly wage of women in these occupations was $19.33, while for men it was $21.18.
Women are significantly under-represented among truckers. In 2011, there were 1,875 in the experienced labour force, which accounts for 3.0% of the total.
Within this job category, women earn slightly less, on a weekly basis, than men ($821 compared to $924 for men).
In 2015, 82.0% of women in the core working ages of 25 to 54 years (6 million) participated in the labour market.
In 2015, women represented 47.2% of the labour force, up from 45.7% in 1999 and 37.1% in 1976.
In 2015, the national employment rate for women was 77.5% compared to 85.3% for men.
On average women work 5.6 hours per week less than men (35.5 hours/week compared to 41.1 hours/week).
Currently, 19% of employed women work part-time (compared with 5.5% of employed men).
The average net worth of lone mothers was less than half of that of lone fathers: $240,000 versus $540,000. Unattached women and men had similar average net worth at $250,000 and $230,000, respectively.
Lone mothers had the lowest average adjusted income ($25,300), followed by those who were unattached ($33,700). The average adjusted incomes of lone fathers and unattached men were similar (around $40,300). Notably, the average adjusted income of lone mothers was $15,000 less than that of lone fathers.