On April 20, 2015, Ontario residents across the province will mark Equal Pay Day by wearing red.
The day signifies how many additional days into the new year women have to work to earn what men did in the previous year. By wearing red, participants illustrate the vast pay gap that exists between women and men in the province. The Equal Pay Coalition reports that the average annual earnings of all women in the province is 31.5 per cent less than men.
UFCW Canada Local 1000A activists and staff took to the streets of downtown Toronto on March 7 to participate in the city’s annual International Women’s Day rally and march.
Participants gathered to raise awareness on a variety of issues, including violence against women, affordable childcare, missing aboriginal women and the gender wage gap prevalent in non-union workplaces.
“The reality is that society still has a long way to go when it comes to addressing these issues,” said Diana O’Brien, Coordinator for Local 1000A’s Women’s Issues Network. “International Women’s Day is about empowering women and men to transform our communities and our province for the better.”
Your Women’s Issues Network is pleased to announce your new regional committees. Votes were held across Ontario to help select regional representatives for your Women's Issues Network (WIN). In each of the network’s six regions, a Chair, Co-Chair and an Alternate were chosen to serve as the regional committee for a four-year term.
In 1977, International Women's Day was proclaimed to be held every year on March 8 by the United Nations (UN). They state that the day is "a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of their countries and communities."
