Saskatchewan is one of the few provinces that does not have pay equity legislation. So it's not surprising that we have one of the highest gender wage gaps in Canada.
The Sask Party has been content to sit on their hands and leave this unaddressed. Meanwhile, women in Saskatchewan face a very different reality when it comes to pay for similar work to their male counterparts. The NDP will bring in pay equity legislation.
This is the result of systemic gender discrimination that can and should be fixed with pay equity legislation.
- The Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission recommends pay equity legislation but the government hasn't acted.
- The Human Rights Code prohibits gender-based compensation discrimination, but that leaves it to individuals to file a complaint instead of pay equity legislation to proactively protect everyone.
- Pay equity primarily seeks to address gender-based wage discrimination, but we can also be mindful of ability-, age-, identity- and race-based wage discrimination.