Canadian HR Reporter

www.hrreporter.com 13 the workplace should be negatively impacted by COVID-19, says Scott, as diversity and inclusion strategies may be set aside. "We're going to have to wait and see whether companies feel that it's just more red tape as opposed to understanding that it's transformational and will gener- ate an economic benefit of its own." Possible remedies on horizon Encouragingly, the message that women are being more acutely affected by the lockdown is being heard, says Decter, judging by a recent Canadian Women's Foundation survey. "Sixty-three per cent of Canadians are concerned that women face more exposure [to] COVID-19 given their role in service and care industries, and 60 per cent would like to see recovery plans that address the impacts of the pandemic on women." For employers, implementing such measures as paid sick leave would go a long way to help alleviate some of the problems, says Decter. "It makes for a better workplace in the long term." Governments also have a role to play in the recovery, says Scott, and they should take the opportunity to make and technical services industry, which gained 55,000 jobs between February and October, and e-commerce activity, which experienced an uptick. "Men made up three-quarters of the job gains in the tech sector throughout the pandemic," says Freestone. Wages, equity suffer As the pandemic affects the economy as a whole, the wage gap — which had been making positive gains over the years — is suffering from downward pressure, says Freestone. "If women's participation was equal to men's and there was no wage gap, then essentially our GDP would be $100 billion higher each year. It's costing our economy $100 billion every year that we have this wage gap." Plus, the battle to have more women involved in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) subjects has not improved with the pandemic, says Scott. "It's been a really intractable challenge," she says. "If you look at where women are working in the economy, where they were working 50 years ago [and] today, there's actually not much difference. And those kinds of barriers are hard." In addition, the level of equity in certain reforms "to labour legislation and employment standards, to raise the bar such that we have stronger support services available to precarious temporary work because they've been so disproportionately hit." And while there could be an erosion of skills with so many women out of the workforce, modifications to the federal employment insurance (EI) program are encouraging, says Decter. "We've seen some really interesting suggestions around modernizing of EI and connecting that to employment and new skills training. If there is a population of women who are displaced from the labour force and as the pandemic lifts and are looking to return, EI could be well used on reskilling," she says. "That is a way to reach women, especially if childcare gets in place. Women will be looking for skilling and EI could provide a great deal to do that." A national child-care scheme would go a long way in helping women, says Decter. "If you look to the Quebec example of when they brought in low-cost, broadly accessible childcare in 1996, between then and 2008, more than 50 per cent of single mothers left social assistance and got work. You can see that it really is an access-to-work support," she says, adding that she's hopeful now that the federal government has promised such a program in an economic update. "We've gone beyond inching toward broad-based, accessible, national childcare to actual movement. This government has committed to it on several occasions," says Decter. "That kind of conversation and direction needs to continue so that Canada is as productive as possible and getting the most out of the workforce." CHRR "As the pandemic lifts and women are looking to return, EI could be well used on reskilling." Ann Decter, the Canadian Women's Foundation

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