Critical Analysis Students develop their own critical analysis of three assigned readings (covered prior to the due date). Articles and chapters can be taken from multiple topics to compare and contr

INTRODUCTION As of October 2018 approximately 1.14 million Canadians were unemployed, an unemployment rate of 5.7% (Statistics Canada, 2018e). Underemployment means working less than full-time or working at a job that is below a person’s level of skills, education, or experience and cannot fulfill economic needs. In 2018 3.5 million Canadians worked part-time (Statistics Canada, 2018d). Underem - ployment is connected to lower wages and job satisfaction, and poorer physical and psychological health (Verbruggen, van Emmerick, Van Gils, Meng,  & de Grip, 2015). A history of precarious employment (part-time, temporary work) can make it difficult to access employment insurance benefits during periods of unemployment. Unemployment and underemployment can have harsh impacts on financial stability, physical and mental health, and the overall well-being of individuals and families. People in certain social categories suffer greater hardship as a result of unemployment and underemployment because of their more tenuous connec - tion to the labour market, marginalization, and weaker social supports to sustain them during a life crisis. Those include women, racialized people, Indigenous people, older and younger workers, low-income individuals, and people with dis - abilities. People who have more than one of these fundamental traits or s ocial conditions are at even greater disadvantage as their rate of unemployment and C HAP TER   4 Unemployed and Underemployed Women in Canada Leslie Nichols Working_Women.indd 67 09/08/19 2:15 PM Working Women in Canada : An Intersectional Approach, edited by Leslie Nichols, Canadian Scholars, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/umanitoba/detail.action?docID=6282096.

Created from umanitoba on 2023-01-23 06:47:19.

Copyright © 2019. Canadian Scholars. All rights reserved. 68  Working Women in Canada underemployment is higher and they have fewer resources for coping during per - iods of insufficient income. This chapter will examine how unemployment and underemployment impact Canadian women and compare differences in the issues that men and women face in relation to these experiences, with an e mphasis on women across diverse vulnerable social groups and how those social categor - ies intersect. By understanding how women in diverse circumstances experience unemployment and underemployment, policy-makers can better tailor policies to support the lived reality of working in the current labour market and women’s equality in the workforce. In June 2018 the unemployment rate for women 25 and over was 5%, and for men it was 5.2% (Statistics Canada, 2018c). Overall, women’s unemployment rate tends to be lower than men’s, in part due to the types of jobs that women are employed in. More men have left the labour force in recent years as jobs in fields such as manufacturing and construction suffered more downsizing during the recession that began in 2008 than jobs in fields such as education and health care, in which more women are employed. Thus, the employment rate may mask employment issues that impact women more than men, including underemploy - ment and access to financial benefits when they are unemployed. Women’s unemployment and underemployment have been strongly affected by the dominance of neoliberal social and economic policies since the 1980s. A prime example of the hardship that neoliberal policies have caused is C anada’s unemployment insurance program. The Unemployment Insurance Act was introduced in 1940 to provide financial support to unemployed soldiers return - ing from World War II and help them rejoin the labour market. Unemployment Insurance (UI) was a central component of the Canadian welfare state. Over the years UI underwent a series of transformations marked by both expansion and restriction of benefits. In 1996 the program was renamed Employment Insur - ance (EI) to reflect the shift toward the neoliberal philosophy.

The new EI policy instituted in 1996 changed the concept of who deserved financial support during unemployment and the amount of support they received.

Access to EI benefits was made more difficult by increasing the hours of previ - ous employment required for eligibility (Nichols, 2016b). This change especially impacted people who did not have full-time long-term jobs, particularly women and the marginalized groups mentioned above. Thus, the new policy favoured members of the workforce who were most likely to hold full-time jobs, while penalizing and further marginalizing those who were most in need of support to survive periods of unemployment and return to the workforce. Working_Women.indd 68 09/08/19 2:15 PM Working Women in Canada : An Intersectional Approach, edited by Leslie Nichols, Canadian Scholars, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/umanitoba/detail.action?docID=6282096.

Created from umanitoba on 2023-01-23 06:47:19.

Copyright © 2019. Canadian Scholars. All rights reserved. Chapter 4 Unemployed and Underemployed Women in Canada  69 UNEMPLOYMENT AND U NDEREMPLOYMENT : T H E C OR E D A TA The official unemployment rate in Canada has held steady between about 6% and 8.5% over the past decade, with the highest rate occurring during the 2008 recession. But simple unemployment rate statistics cannot fully capture the employment situation of Canadian workers. The unemployment rate only considers people who are part of the labour force, defined narrowly as those who are working or actively looking for work. This definition does not include people who have stopped looking for work due to a lack of available jobs (called “discouraged workers ”), women who have left the labour market because they can’t afford childcare while working, older people who retired early because they were unable to find work, and so on. Many of these individuals are alien - ated from the workforce not by choice but by economic and social conditions.

If these willing workers were included in the definition of the labour force, the unemployment rate might be considerably higher. Moreover, the unemploy - ment rate calculates the number of unemployed people at the specific moment of the survey, leaving out those who were unemployed at other times during the year. Thus, there may be a significant difference between the government’s offi - cial unemployment rate and the “lived ” rate experienced by Canadians. Shields, Silver, and Wilson (2006, p. 107) found that including people who had been unemployed at some point during the preceding year more than doubled the official Canadian unemployment rate during the period from 1993 to 2001; at that time, the official unemployment rate was 8.7%, while the more accurate rate was 19.9%. Statistics Canada also tallies unemployment among discouraged search - ers; workers who are waiting to be recalled to their jobs, waiting for replies from employers, or waiting to begin working at a distant future date; and i nvoluntary part-time workers. When those workers are added to the official unemployment rate of 6.1% for July 2018, the rate rises to 8.9% (Statistics Canada, 2018i). Unemployment in Canada has been connected to global economic trends over the last 10 years. Following the 2008 recession, the average duration of an individual ’s unemployment in Canada increased from about 15 weeks to about 21 weeks ( table 4.1). In July 2018, the rate of unemployment lasting one year or more was 0.5%, and the rate for three months or more was 1.8% (Statistics Canada, 2018i). Working_Women.indd 69 09/08/19 2:15 PM Working Women in Canada : An Intersectional Approach, edited by Leslie Nichols, Canadian Scholars, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/umanitoba/detail.action?docID=6282096.

Created from umanitoba on 2023-01-23 06:47:19.

Copyright © 2019. Canadian Scholars. All rights reserved. 70  Working Women in Canada IMPACTS OF U N EMPLOYMENT A ND   U NDEREMPLOYMENT Financial Impacts Household financial security is essential for the well-being of workers and their families. Even with full-time employment, certain groups of people—including those with less education, single individuals, and renters—are at higher risk of financial insecurity in the form of excessive debt, physical and mental health issues (which have a direct impact on income), and lack of access to basic neces - sities (Chawla & Uppla, 2012, p. 3). Unemployed and underemployed people are at even greater risk. Once an individual becomes unemployed, lack of financial resources may interfere with efforts to return to the labour market, for example, to cover the cost of transportation, childcare, and clothing for interviews. Workers who have accumulated the required work hours may be eligible for EI if they lose their job, but the amount of their EI benefit may be insuf - ficient for survival as it amounts to only 55% of one’s previous salary (Employ - ment and Social Development Canada [ESDC], 2018). Starting in January Table 4.1:

d u ration of Unemployment in Canada, 2007–2017 Year Duration of unemployment (weeks) 2007/2008 15.3 2008/2009 14.9 2009/2010 18.4 2010/2011 20.4 2011/2012 21.1 2012/2013 20.6 2013/2014 21.1 2014/2015 20.6 2015/2016 19.8 2016/2017 20.3 Source: ad apted from e mployment and s o cial d e velopment Canada, 2018. Working_Women.indd 70 09/08/19 2:15 PM Working Women in Canada : An Intersectional Approach, edited by Leslie Nichols, Canadian Scholars, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/umanitoba/detail.action?docID=6282096.

Created from umanitoba on 2023-01-23 06:47:19.

Copyright © 2019. Canadian Scholars. All rights reserved. Chapter 4 Unemployed and Underemployed Women in Canada  71 2018 the maximum EI weekly benefit was $547, but the average payout during 2016/2017 was only $447 ($1,788 per month; ESDC, 2018). By contrast, the 2018 cost of living for a family of four in a three-bedroom apartment outside the city centre was about $5,426 a month in Halifax, $4,875 in Montreal, $7,442 in Toronto, $4,823 in Winnipeg, and $6,579 in Vancouver, according to the Numbeo database. Those figures do not include the cost of childcare, health services, or income taxes. Clearly, Canadians cannot survive on 55% of their sal- ary. Moreover, according to the Globe and Mail (Canadian Press, May 15, 2018), one-quarter of Canadians have almost no savings set aside for emergencies like loss of a job, and 56% have saved less than $10,000, which would only cover two to three months of living expenses. Workers who are involuntarily employed part-time earn considerably less than full-time workers. In 2018 the average hourly wage for a part-time female worker was $19.73 compared to $26.70 for a full-time female worker (Statistics Canada, 2019). When part-time workers lose their jobs, they may find that they have not accumulated enough hours to qualify for EI, compounding their finan - cial vulnerability.

Health Impacts Although the 1984 Canada Health Act established universal health care, it does not cover all needed health services and related items, including prescription drugs, dental care, eye glasses, optometry, and long-term care. There are also limitations on mental health services and medical specialists. Thus, Canadians cover about 30% of their overall health-care needs through private insurance or employee benefits. Private health insurance costs an average of $1,800 per person per year. Those who lack private insurance pay out of pocket for services not cov - ered by federal health insurance. Unemployed or underemployed workers may experience difficulties accessing needed medical services and medications. They may have lost their extended health-care benefits from their previous employer or, if they are underemployed, they may not have an extended plan that includes drugs and other medical care that is available to full-time workers as an added job benefit. They may not be able to afford transportation or childcare to go to medical appointments. The stresses of unemployment and underemployment have a direct harmful impact on physical and mental health. These stresses can exacerbate preexist - ing health issues at a time when the individual ’s access to treatment has been reduced, interfering with self-care and attempts to return to work. Working_Women.indd 71 09/08/19 2:15 PM Working Women in Canada : An Intersectional Approach, edited by Leslie Nichols, Canadian Scholars, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/umanitoba/detail.action?docID=6282096.

Created from umanitoba on 2023-01-23 06:47:19.

Copyright © 2019. Canadian Scholars. All rights reserved. 72  Working Women in Canada As people lose control of their work and finances their sense of self-agency and hope for the future decline. They often experience depression and anxiety and may turn to unhealthy coping mechanisms such as drugs and alcohol. These issues can lead to additional physical health problems, setting up a cycle of un - employment or underemployment, diminishing health, and reduced likelihood of returning to the labour force (Nichols, 2014).

Deskilling and Underemployment Many workers who face underemployment also experience deskilling . Deskilling is a strategy used by employers to reduce their costs by refusing to recognize workers’ education and work experience and either placing them in work that is below their level of skill or paying them a wage that is below their skills.

Deskilling makes it difficult for qualified workers to find adequate employ - ment and obtain promotions. Man (2004) reports in her study of highly skilled Chinese immigrant women in Canada that they were deskilled into insecure and part-time positions, if not unemployed, due to Canada’s immigration and settlement policies that devalue the skills of immigrant women. Similarly, young women workers are often deskilled in the labour market due to negative stereo - types about their potential to contribute to the workplace (Ty yskä, 2014). GENDER D I FFERENCES IN U N EMPLOYMENT A ND   U NDEREMPLOYMENT Hours Worked and Salary There is a normative belief in our society that all adults are workers and that they all have a similar life cycle with respect to the labour market (Nichols, 2013).

There are two problems with this belief. First, it does not take into account the many life events that may cause people to leave the labour market tempor - arily or permanently. Second, it ignores the important roles that people have beyond their work that consume their time, as citizens, community members, parents, and so on. Women, specifically, are expected to play a central role in the home, and indeed their work as mothers and homemakers is essential to society (Cooke & Gazso, 2009; Nichols, 2013; Pupo & Duffy, 2003). Canadian women spent 3.9 hours a day on unpaid household tasks in 2015 and 3.9 hours on paid work, while men spent 5.2 hours on paid work and 2.4 hours on unpaid work (Moyser & Burlock, 2018). Calculated over one week, women spend 27.3 hours on unpaid labour, while men spend 16.8 hours—a Working_Women.indd 72 09/08/19 2:15 PM Working Women in Canada : An Intersectional Approach, edited by Leslie Nichols, Canadian Scholars, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/umanitoba/detail.action?docID=6282096.

Created from umanitoba on 2023-01-23 06:47:19.

Copyright © 2019. Canadian Scholars. All rights reserved. Chapter 4 Unemployed and Underemployed Women in Canada  73 difference of over 10 hours. In the course of one year, this difference adds up to more than two months of 8-hour days. These statistics reveal a gendered a rrangement of household work that enhances men’s socioeconomic status while leaving women financially dependent on their male partner. This in turn i ncreases women’s vulnerability in the event of a divorce and, in some cases, traps them in domestic violence. The data suggest that women are slightly less likely to be unemployed than men, but it is important to understand the type of work that women do, and how much they earn. In 2014 Canadian women earned 88 cents to each dollar earned by men ($25.38 an hour for women compared to $28.92 for men; Moyser, 2017b). This salary difference can be attributed in part to women’s overrepresentation in part- time work. In 2015 more than three times as many women (18.9%) were working part-time as men (5.5%; Moyser, 2017b). A similar trend is seen with full-time work: in 2014 women employed full-time earned 74% of men’s salaries—$52,500 compared to $70,700 (Moyser, 2017b). Women’s lower work hours and overrepre- sentation in part-time work have significant repercussions for both unemployment statistics and employment insurance benefits when they become unemployed. Men were more impacted than women by the 2008 global recession. In 2009, 7% of women and 9.4% of men were unemployed (Ferrao, 2010), possibly because women were overrepresented in areas that saw growth, such as health care, social assistance, educational services, insurance, and real estate, while industries dom - inated by men, such as construction, manufacturing, and primary industries, experienced shrinkage during the downturn (Statistics Canada, 2015, 2016). But much of the difference in the unemployment rates for men and women may be explained by the increase in part-time jobs, in which women are overrepresented.

Freedom to Choose Whether and How Much to Work One reason for women’s lower work hours and salary is the number of hours they spend doing unpaid domestic labour, sometimes referred to as women’s “second shift” (Hochschild & Machung, 1989). As the number of women in the work - force increased after World War II, it was hoped that men would take on their share of the household tasks. But, in fact, that has not happened ( Hochschild & Machung, 1989). While women’s work hours have increased over the last five decades, they still do most of the labour of caring for the home and family (Blossfeld & Drobnic, 2001; Breen & Cooke, 2005; Gershuny, 2000). Thus, the most common reason cited by women for their part-time employment is their responsibility for childcare (Moyser, 2017b). Working_Women.indd 73 09/08/19 2:15 PM Working Women in Canada : An Intersectional Approach, edited by Leslie Nichols, Canadian Scholars, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/umanitoba/detail.action?docID=6282096.

Created from umanitoba on 2023-01-23 06:47:19.

Copyright © 2019. Canadian Scholars. All rights reserved. 74  Working Women in Canada This gendered partition of family duties is still being reinforced by trad - itional social expectations of women (Burda, Hamermesh, & Weil, 2007), such that women may feel pressured to contribute disproportionately to caring for their families compared to their spouses or domestic partners. Full-time work may not always be a choice for many of them. Government policies and programs such as EI are based on an assumption that men and women are equally free to choose their labour market partici - pation, but in fact the decision to work, at what type of job, and the number of work hours per week are conditioned by a number of personal and social factors that limit choice (Little, 2004; Teghtsoonian, 1996). This underlying assumption about women’s freedom to choose their work participation does not acknowledge social discourses that define women as caregivers of their children, spouse, and elders and responsible for domestic work. The choice to work is also conditioned by social class. Some women might prefer to not work in order to care for their children but cannot afford to not work. Middle- and upper-class women have more freedom to choose whether to work and how much (Lit t le, 20 0 4). A key resource that frees women to work is access to adequate and affordable childcare, but childcare is becoming increasingly unaffordable for low-income women in some areas as the federal government does not impose cost controls on daycare facilities and does not provide sufficient numbers of subsidized child - care spaces. The gender employment gap is greater in metropolitan areas and provinces with high daycare fees, indicating that in those areas women are stay - ing home to care for their children because they can’t afford daycare. Thus, in Montreal, where daycare cost $168 a month per child in 2017, 6.4% more men are employed than women. In Toronto, where daycare costs as much as $1,758 a month, 12.6% more men are employed than women, indicating that women in Toronto are staying home to care for their children because of the high cost of daycare (MacDonald & Friendly, 2017; Moyser, 2017b). The ability to choose whether and how much to work is further complicated for single mothers, who make up one-quarter of low-wage workers. It is more difficult for them to move to higher-paid jobs because they have difficulty pay - ing for childcare and they must shoulder all of the childcare and household work (Evans, 2009). Their financial security is also compromised by fathers who neg - lect to pay full child support (Ty yskä, 2014). In March 2012, 45% of Canadian fathers were at least two months behind in their child support payments (Kelly, 2013). In spite of these challenges, and out of necessity, 72% of lone mothers and 75.8% of coupled mothers worked in 2015 (Moyser, 2017b). Working_Women.indd 74 09/08/19 2:15 PM Working Women in Canada : An Intersectional Approach, edited by Leslie Nichols, Canadian Scholars, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/umanitoba/detail.action?docID=6282096.

Created from umanitoba on 2023-01-23 06:47:19.

Copyright © 2019. Canadian Scholars. All rights reserved. Chapter 4 Unemployed and Underemployed Women in Canada  75 Working involuntarily at part-time rather than full-time work is much more common for men than for women ( table 4.2). In 2015, 47% of men were e mployed part time involuntarily, compared to 32.8% of women (Moyser, 2017b). This dif - ference is due in part to women voluntarily choosing part-time work due to the demands of their unpaid household labour.

Health Impacts of Unemployment and Underemployment on Women In addition to the general health impacts of unemployment and underemploy - ment mentioned above, the impacts on women are compounded by their roles as caregivers and homemakers. Due to social conditioning, many women ensure that others are taken care of before meeting their own needs for health care, nutrition, and mental health support (Nichols, 2016b). Since many women are employed part-time, they may either not have any extended health-care benefits through their job or they may lose those benefits when they become unemployed, leaving them without coverage for medications. Again, they may prioritize pay - ing for their children’s health-care and medication needs over their own. The cost of childcare can also make it difficult for women to attend medical appoint - ments, particularly if they are single mothers (Nichols, 2016b).

Retraining for Better Employment Unemployment and underemployment may indicate a need for individuals to learn new skills that are in demand in the labour market and that will lead to steady full-time jobs. Retraining may consist of completing secondary or post - secondary academic degrees or training for specific trades and professions.

Table 4.2:

r e asons for i n voluntary p ar t- ti me Work in Canada, 2015 % Women Men Part-time employment, all reasons 18.9  5.5 a ll involuntary reasons 32.84 7. 0 Business conditions (downturn or increased costs) 23.3 35.0 Could not find full-time work  9.4 12.0 Source: ad apted from m o yser, 2017b. Working_Women.indd 75 09/08/19 2:15 PM Working Women in Canada : An Intersectional Approach, edited by Leslie Nichols, Canadian Scholars, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/umanitoba/detail.action?docID=6282096.

Created from umanitoba on 2023-01-23 06:47:19.

Copyright © 2019. Canadian Scholars. All rights reserved. 76  Working Women in Canada The federal and provincial governments have instituted policies and pro - grams that encourage retraining for unemployed and underemployed people ( Government of Canada, 2009), such as Second Career in Ontario, Alberta Works, and Skills Development in Nova Scotia. Eligible participants include workers who have been laid off who are receiving EI benefits. The programs are designed specifically for in-demand industries such as health care, dental care, computer and information systems, food services, tourism, and education. Women who are caring for children may find it difficult to participate in or pay for retraining. While Second Career, for example, offers childcare, unem - ployed women who opt for retraining in a field not covered by this program or who desire to undertake university-level studies do not have access to paid child - care. Second Career offers a low basic living allowance of $410 a week ($1,640 a month), which the above cost-of-living figures show is not enough to take care of a family while attending retraining (Government of Ontario, 2018). Thus, some women may be forced to take on survival jobs rather than job retraining to make ends meet. Finally, some women may prioritize their children’s education rather than their own in terms of their investment of time and money (Nichols, 2016b). THE I M PACT OF E M PLOYMENT I NS URANCE P OL ICIES ON W OM EN The harsh conditions of the Great Depression in the 1930s encouraged a political shift toward Keynesian economics in Canada. Keynesianism, named for British economist John Maynard Keynes, was designed to reconcile the needs of workers and employers through the creation of a series of social protections for workers, including market regulation, ensuring adequate wages, and advancement of the in - dustry through a stable and loyal workforce (Harvey, 2005). One of the key mech - anisms that was introduced to deal with an unemployment rate of 19.3% was UI (Gower, 1992). The main goals of the policy were to provide financial assistance to unemployed workers and help them find suitable employment. Initially claimants required 12 to 20 weeks of work, depending on the region where they lived, with a minimum of 15 hours a week to qualify for UI benefits. The policy listed 40 ac - ceptable reasons for leaving a job, such as workplace discrimination, childbirth, harassment, and moving due to a spouse’s career. There was a two-week waiting period prior to receiving benefits, the amount of which was determined by earn - ings and total hours worked during the previous year (Townson & Hayes, 2007). After over a decade of increasing neoliberal restrictions imposed on the wel - fare state, in 1996 UI was replaced by EI. This new approach to unemployed Working_Women.indd 76 09/08/19 2:15 PM Working Women in Canada : An Intersectional Approach, edited by Leslie Nichols, Canadian Scholars, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/umanitoba/detail.action?docID=6282096.

Created from umanitoba on 2023-01-23 06:47:19.

Copyright © 2019. Canadian Scholars. All rights reserved. Chapter 4 Unemployed and Underemployed Women in Canada  77 worker supports was designed to encourage people to work and to remain at their jobs. The most significant change in the new policy was an increase in the num- ber of hours required to receive benefits. Depending on the region, unemployed workers now require 420 to 700 hours of work over the previous 12 months. This means that at the high end of the hours requirement, workers must accumulate 100 days at 35 hours per week, which is double the previous UI requirement (Townson & Hayes, 2007). The unspoken underlying bias of the EI policy is that leaving the workforce to have and raise children is a woman’s individual choice, when in fact reproduc - tion and childcare are essential for society and for the economy (for regeneration of the working population) and have long been treated as women’s obligation.

Women’s role in social reproduction affects whether and how much they work and how unemployment impacts them (Nichols, 2016b). Ultimately, women who reduce their work hours in order to take on the burden of social reproduction or unpaid domestic labour have difficulty accessing EI benefits because they cannot meet the minimum hours requirement. Not surprisingly, more men than women receive EI benefits. In 2016/2017, 806,660 men received EI, compared to 514,470 women. This was a 10% decrease from the previous year for men and a 3.7% decrease for women. Men’s weekly benefits are also higher than women’s. In 2016/2017 men received an average of $474 per week, while women received $412 (ESDC, 2018), reflecting the wage gap between men and women and the gendered division of household labour:

when women do more than half of household tasks they may have less time for paid work outside the home, resulting in lower EI benefits.

THE I M PACT OF I N TERSECTING S OC IAL C ON DITIONS ON W O MEN ’S U NEMPLOYMENT AND U NDEREMPLOYMENT Unemployment is not a uniform experience for women. Rather, some women experience more hardship during their unemployment due to the intersection of two or more fundamental traits and social conditions. An intersectional lens helps to better understand the varied unemployment experiences of individual women and groups of women.

Low-Income Women Poverty is a significant issue in Canada, but there is no universally accepted method for defining poverty numerically (Fleras, 2017). Absolute poverty means Working_Women.indd 77 09/08/19 2:15 PM Working Women in Canada : An Intersectional Approach, edited by Leslie Nichols, Canadian Scholars, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/umanitoba/detail.action?docID=6282096.

Created from umanitoba on 2023-01-23 06:47:19.

Copyright © 2019. Canadian Scholars. All rights reserved. 78  Working Women in Canada a chronic lack of life necessities such as food, shelter, and clothing, while relative poverty is a measure of poverty in specific years, places, and levels of develop - ment. In Canada three measures are used to determine low income (Citizens for Public Justice, 2013):

1. L ow income cut-off (LICO): The after-tax point at which a household spends 63.6% or more of its income on food, clothing, and shelter. This is the oldest and most commonly used definition of poverty.

2.

L ow income measure (LIM): 50% of the adjusted global median house- hold income.

3. M arket Basket Measure (MBM): The level at which a household does not have enough money for life necessities, taking into account local conditions.

The existence of three different definitions of poverty can lead to confusion over how to measure and improve poverty in Canada. An advantage of the LIM is that it provides a measure of the level of poverty in Canada compared to other countries. It is estimated that one in seven Canadians (4.8 million people) are living in poverty (Fleras, 2017); 53.4% are women. People who live in poverty tend to be children, those in female-headed and lone-parent households and fami - lies headed by persons with disabilities, young adults between 18 and 24 years old, and unattached people, especially elderly women (Fleras, 2017). In fact, 1.9 million women live on a low income (Canadian Women’s Foundation, 2018).

There is a growing segment of working poor: families in poverty despite having at least one working person in the household, which includes 44% of Canad - ian households that are in poverty (Citizens for Public Justice, 2013). Single mothers are especially impacted as 30.4% are raising their children in poverty (Canadian Women’s Foundation, 2018). Single mothers are twice as likely to find themselves seeking housing at emergency shelters as two-parent households ( Canadian Women’s Foundation, 2018). The official low-income cut-off point (poverty line) in Canada varies by r egion due to the difference in the cost of living in urban and rural areas. For a family of four living in a city with a population of 500,000 or more in 2017, the cut-off was $39,701 after taxes. For the same family living in a rural area, the cut-off was $25,970. For a single person the urban poverty line was $20,998 and the rural poverty line was $13,735 (Statistics Canada, 2018g). Approximately 4.8 million Canadians lived in households below the low-income cut-off. Out of this total, 53.3% were women (Statistics Canada, 2018m). Working_Women.indd 78 09/08/19 2:15 PM Working Women in Canada : An Intersectional Approach, edited by Leslie Nichols, Canadian Scholars, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/umanitoba/detail.action?docID=6282096.

Created from umanitoba on 2023-01-23 06:47:19.

Copyright © 2019. Canadian Scholars. All rights reserved. Chapter 4 Unemployed and Underemployed Women in Canada  79 The risk of poverty for women who are precariously employed is compounded when they lose their jobs, especially when they don’t qualify for EI benefits due to insufficient work hours. They sometimes find that they lack the financial r esources to participate in retraining, whether to pay for tuition and textbooks or for childcare. Taken together, these circumstances may prevent them from returning to work. Thus, paradoxically, a sufficient level of financial resources is needed simply to re-enter the labour market (Nichols, 2016a).

Racialized and Immigrant Women The word racialized refers to a process by which a white majority population places racial meanings—usually limiting—on nonwhite groups. In Canadian govern - ment vocabulary, racialized individuals are also referred to as visible minorities, meaning “persons, other than Aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour” (ESDC, 2013). The term visible minority has been criticized by scholars and social justice advocates, who prefer the term “racial - ized ” (City for All Women Initiative, 2016). The proportion of racialized women has grown in recent decades ( table 4.3).

Racialized communities in Canada have a high rate of labour market attach - ment (Block & Galabuzi, 2011). In 2016, 67.4% of racialized women between Table 4.3:

p e rcentage of r a cialized Canadian Women, 1981–2031 Year % 1981 5 1986 6 1991 9 1996 11 2001 14 2006 16 2011 19 2016 23 2021 25 (projected) 2026 28 (projected) 2031 31 (projected) Source: ad apted from h u don, 2016. Working_Women.indd 79 09/08/19 2:15 PM Working Women in Canada : An Intersectional Approach, edited by Leslie Nichols, Canadian Scholars, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/umanitoba/detail.action?docID=6282096.

Created from umanitoba on 2023-01-23 06:47:19.

Copyright © 2019. Canadian Scholars. All rights reserved. 80  Working Women in Canada the ages of 25 and 64 and 80.5% of racialized men worked. This was very simi - lar to the employment rate of nonracialized women and men (72.9% and 79% r espectively; Statistics Canada, 2018f ). In Canada today, race and immigration are deeply connected. In 2016, 70% of racialized individuals were born outside Canada (Statistics Canada, 2017).

Most new immigrants come to Canada from the Global South, with the top eth - nicities being South Asian, Chinese, and Black (Statistics Canada, 2017). The population of immigrant women and girls has increased over the years, currently accounting for 66.7% of all immigrants (Hudon, 2016). Immigrant status compounds workforce inequality for both racialized and nonracialized women, adding a third layer of complexity to women’s lived real - ities (Hudon, 2016). Ta b l e 4.4 shows that racialized women have the highest unemployment rate compared to nonracialized women and men, pointing to the connection between immigrant status and race in the Canadian labour market. The unemployment rate also varies among racialized women from differ - ent countries and regions ( table 4.5). For example, Arab women immigrants are 14.8% more likely to be unemployed than Canadian-born Arab women, demon - strating the intersecting impacts of racialization and immigration status. Racialized women and first-generation women immigrants have a higher chance of experiencing low-wage work than the average population. Ta b l e 4.6 shows that 20.3% of first-generation Canadian racialized women are low-wage earners, compared to 11% of nonracialized women of all generations (Statis - tics Canada, 2018j). Their low wages prevent them from accumulating savings to bridge periods of unemployment and to supplement their limited EI bene - fits. Poverty among racialized groups in Canada continues to grow even as their postsecondary education increases (ESDC, 2013). Since racialized Canadians and immigrants are more likely to be unem - ployed or to work part-time, they face more difficulty accessing EI benefits. Table 4.4: Unemployment r a te (%) of Canadians 25–64 Years ol d, 2016 All Canadians Canadian-born Immigrants Women MenWomen MenWomen Men racializ ed 8.2 6.9 6.3 7. 18.4 6.8 nonr acialized 5.2 6.9 5.1 7. 16.0 5.6 Source: adap ted from s t atistics Canada, 2018f. Working_Women.indd 80 09/08/19 2:15 PM Working Women in Canada : An Intersectional Approach, edited by Leslie Nichols, Canadian Scholars, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/umanitoba/detail.action?docID=6282096.

Created from umanitoba on 2023-01-23 06:47:19.

Copyright © 2019. Canadian Scholars. All rights reserved. Chapter 4 Unemployed and Underemployed Women in Canada  81 Table 4.5: Women’s Unemployment ra te (%) by r a ce and e thn icity, ag es 25–64, 2016 Total Canadian Immigrants racializ ed total 8.2 6.3 8.4 s outh a sian 9.8 6.5 10.2 Chinese 6.8 4.57. 0 Black 10.1 8.510.3 Filipino 4.0 5.04.0 l atin a merican 8.77. 4 8.5 a rab 14.27. 4 14.8 s outheast a sian 7. 0 5.2 7. 2 West a sian 12.07. 112.0 kor ean 7. 34.6 7. 1 Japanese 4.9 3.65.2 o ther race 8.07.7 8.1 m ultiple racialized group 7. 16.4 7. 2 Source: adap ted from s t atistics Canada, 2018f.

Table 4.6: pe rcentage of Low-Wage Canadians by g e nder, im migration g e neration, and r a cialized s t atus, a g es 25–54, 2016 WomenMen Generation Racialized Nonracialized Racialized Nonracialized a ll 18.811.0 1 7. 69.6 1st 20.313.8 19.413.3 2nd 9.49.0 8.48.3 3rd or more 1 7. 611.0 13.0 9.4 Note: “Low-wage” is based on the L i m -a t (50% of the median adjusted after-tax income).

Source: s t atistics Canada, 2018j. Working_Women.indd 81 09/08/19 2:15 PM Working Women in Canada : An Intersectional Approach, edited by Leslie Nichols, Canadian Scholars, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/umanitoba/detail.action?docID=6282096.

Created from umanitoba on 2023-01-23 06:47:19.

Copyright © 2019. Canadian Scholars. All rights reserved. 82  Working Women in Canada Approximately 27% of recent immigrants have fewer than the required insurable hours for EI (Vosko, 2011).

Notably, unemployment places additional stressors on immigrant women’s mental health, compounded by social isolation (Rashid, Gregory, Kazemipur, & Scruby, 2013). Older immigrant women are particularly vulnerable to financial and social hardship during unemployment, especially if they lose a long-term job ( Ng , 2 011).

Indigenous Women Indigenous women experience substantial hardships in the labour market.

Lamb’s (2015) study on Indigenous populations living off-reserve, based on the Canadian Labour Force Survey from 2007 to 2012, found that they were signifi - cantly impacted by the 2008 recession. Indigenous people in Canada experience lower employment and higher unemployment than non-Indigenous people ( table 4.7 ; Lamb, 2015). Indigenous women’s work situation is made more complex by their traditional role in the household performing unpaid labour (similar to non-Indigenous women), their high fertility rate, and high prominence of single parenthood (Lamb, 2015). The 2017 Aboriginal Peoples Survey reported that 43% of off-reserve Indigenous women and 47% of men were employed ( Statistics Canada, 2018h). According to an analysis by Moyser (2017a), Indigenous women experience a slightly larger gender gap in employment due to traditional gender norms, especially around childcare. More non-Indigenous women are employed in the labour market, and they have a lower unemployment rate than Indigenous women ( table 4.8).

Table 4.7:

e m ployment and Unemployment r a tes of Core Working- ag e i n digenous and n on - ind igenous p e ople, 2007, 2010, and 2015 Year Employment % Unemployment % Indigenous Non-Indigenous Indigenous Non-Indigenous 2007 69.9 82.58.95.0 2010 65.8 80.912.1 6.8 2015 67.5 81.811.0 5.7 Note: d a ta for table 4.7 is for i n digenous people living off-reserve in the 10 provinces, which covered 78% of i n digenous people in 2011.

Source:

m o y s e r, 2 0 17a . Working_Women.indd 82 09/08/19 2:15 PM Working Women in Canada : An Intersectional Approach, edited by Leslie Nichols, Canadian Scholars, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/umanitoba/detail.action?docID=6282096.

Created from umanitoba on 2023-01-23 06:47:19.

Copyright © 2019. Canadian Scholars. All rights reserved. Chapter 4 Unemployed and Underemployed Women in Canada  83 The three most common job areas for Indigenous women are retail work, health care, and education (Statistics Canada, 2018b)—all sectors characterized by precarious low-wage work. Retail work often offers little chance for advance - ment. More research is needed on underemployment and unemployment of I ndigenous women in Canada and their paid and unpaid work in the home and on and off reserves.

Young Women Statistics Canada defines youth as 15 to 24 years of age; however, many scholars, organizations, and governments extend this age bracket to age 35. The youth cate - g ory overlaps with childhood and adolescence, making the distinctions between them ambiguous (Ty yskä, 2014). Young people’s work experience is complicated by their place in the life cycle. Often, they are still dependent on their parents while completing their education (Ty yskä, 2014). The long duration of postsec - ondary education and training delays their entry into full-time employment, and many young people must contend with low-paying, part-time, or temporary jobs. The youth employment rate in Canada for men and women combined has re - mained fairly steady in recent decades at approximately 56% (Statistics Canada, Table 4.8: e m ployment and Unemployment r a tes of Core Working- age i nd igenous and n on - ind igenous Women, 2007–2015 Year Employment % Unemployment % Indigenous Non-Indigenous Indigenous Non-Indigenous 2007 64.6 78.58.74.7 2008 64.7 78.39.24.7 2009 65.2 77.410.3 6.0 2010 62.4 77.511.16.3 2011 64.1 77.69.65.9 2012 65.2 78.110.5 5.6 2013 65.8 78.59.15.5 2014 66.1 77.89.45.4 2015 63.2 78.010.9 5.3 Note: d a ta for table 4.7 is for i n digenous people living off-reserve in the 10 provinces, which covered 78% of i n digenous people in 2011.

Source: m o y s e r, 2 0 17a . Working_Women.indd 83 09/08/19 2:15 PM Working Women in Canada : An Intersectional Approach, edited by Leslie Nichols, Canadian Scholars, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/umanitoba/detail.action?docID=6282096.

Created from umanitoba on 2023-01-23 06:47:19.

Copyright © 2019. Canadian Scholars. All rights reserved. 84  Working Women in Canada 2015, 2018d), with young women gaining slightly on their male counterparts during that period. The unemployment rate also favours young women slightly. In 2015, 11.3% of young women compared to 15% of young men were unemployed (Moyser, 2017b). This may be the result of young women being overrepresented in industries with greater concentrations of youth, such as the service, childcare, and personal care industries, while men are also less likely to pursue postsecond - ary education, which may leave them with fewer employment opportunities. In 2015, 65.1% of young women were enrolled in postsecondary education, compared to 58.2% of men. Among young people who did not attend postsec - ondary education, 61.1% of men compared to 44.8% of women were unemployed in 2015 (Moyser, 2017b). Young women also tend to enrol in more traditionally female fields such as nursing, social work, and the humanities and social sci - ences (Krahn, Lowe, & Hughes, 2008). These postsecondary programs often lead women into lower-paying jobs and precarious white-collar employment in the service sector.

Older Women Most Canadian government organizations define older workers as over the age of 55. This is an important category as in the last decade more Canadians over the age of 55 have been engaged in work, with 36% of people over 55 working in June 2018 (Statistics Canada, 2018c). By 2036, 25% of the labour force is expected to be 55 or over (Statistics Canada, 2018a). In June 2018, 31.4% of women and 41% of men 55 years and older were working (Statistics Canada, 2018c). Thus, both men and women are working longer. A recent Statistics Canada report by Paula Arriagada (2018) noted that work is a significant portion of seniors’ day as women work 5.7 hours and men 6.6 hours in paid work. More women 65 and older work in part-time positions (92.2%) compared to women 15 to 64 years old (73.5%).

Their preference for part-time work may be related to health limitations or fam - ily responsibilities (Hudon & Milan, 2016). In 2015 women over 65 earned a median wage of $16,670 compared to $21,377 for men of the same age, reflecting older women’s greater part-time employment (Statistics Canada, 2018b). Older women’s periods of unemployment last longer compared to the key working-age bracket (25 to 54 years of age). The unemployment rate of older men and women has hovered between about 4% and 6% over the years (Moyser, 2017b). Older women workers experience difficulties when they lose employment due to employers’ beliefs that they are less productive and too expensive and have outdated skills. Fournier, Zimmermann, Masdonati, and Gauthier’s (2018) Working_Women.indd 84 09/08/19 2:15 PM Working Women in Canada : An Intersectional Approach, edited by Leslie Nichols, Canadian Scholars, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/umanitoba/detail.action?docID=6282096.

Created from umanitoba on 2023-01-23 06:47:19.

Copyright © 2019. Canadian Scholars. All rights reserved. Chapter 4 Unemployed and Underemployed Women in Canada  85 study on the experiences of older Canadian workers over an 18-month period found that women made up a large portion of workers who dealt with downgrad- ing and feeling undervalued in the labour market.

Women with Disabilities Turcotte (2014) notes that Statistics Canada defines disabled workers as indi - viduals who are “limited in their daily activities because of a physical or mental disability, but participate actively in the labour market and often hold jobs that match their qualifications” (p. 2). Depending on the metric applied to determine the severity of the disability, approximately 13.7% of the Canadian adult popula - tion is disabled (Statistics Canada, 2013). Those with a higher degree of disabil - ity tend to be less engaged in work. Women are more likely than men to be disabled and to be unemployed ( Burlock, 2017). In 2011 the Council of Canadians with Disabilities reported that 8.7% of women (compared to 8.4% of men) with mild or moderate disabil - ities and 21% of women (compared to 11.8% of men) with severe disabilities were unemployed (Burlock, 2017). In 2014 disabled women tended to earn less than $50,000 a year, while disabled men tended to earn over $60,000 ( Canadian F eminist Alliance for International Action & DisAbled Women’s Action N etwork, 2017). In 2014, 23% of disabled women lived in poverty ( Canadian Women’s Foundation, 2018). Galer (2018) reports that disabled women have a higher rate of unemployment and poverty than disabled men. In 2011 the Council of Canadians with Disabilities characterized them as an “underutilized resource” for the labour market. Women with disabilities tend to work in non - standard employment such as contract, part-time, temporary, or hidden labour.

This leads them to be excluded from EI benefits. Further, disability often rel - egates people to unpaid volunteer work and involuntary part-time work. Related to their high unemployment rate, it is not surprising that women with disabilities in the core working-age group (25 to 54) report that their life satis - faction is affected by stress related to their work, health, and finances ( Stienstra, 2010). Thus, there is a connection between women’s disability, e mployment status, and socioeconomic status.

CONCLUSION Unemployment and underemployment can have a profound impact on women’s financial and social well-being, their physical and mental health, the well-being Working_Women.indd 85 09/08/19 2:15 PM Working Women in Canada : An Intersectional Approach, edited by Leslie Nichols, Canadian Scholars, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/umanitoba/detail.action?docID=6282096.

Created from umanitoba on 2023-01-23 06:47:19.

Copyright © 2019. Canadian Scholars. All rights reserved. 86  Working Women in Canada of their families, and their attempts to establish autonomy and independence.

An extended period of unemployment or underemployment can have a negative impact on their future efforts to find better-paid, secure, full-time jobs, thus increasing their risk of long-term poverty.

Women’s experience of unemployment and underemployment is complex, but it becomes even more so when their diverse traits and social conditions, such as race, immigrant status, low income, disability, and age, are taken into account. An intersectional analysis that includes all of these important factors yields a better understanding of women’s real lived experiences of work and avoids generalizations that arise from focusing on a single factor, such as race or gender. Currently our understanding of women’s experiences of unemployment and underemployment is hampered by a lack of data on the diverse social groups to which women belong and how these traits and conditions interact. More research is needed in this area. Women’s inequality in the labour market, leading to underemployment and unemployment, is linked in part to our lack of acknowledgement as a society of women’s essential role in social reproduction (Nichols, 2014). While more women work today than 50 years ago, there has been no significant change in how society conceives of their role in raising children and caring for the house - hold. Women carry a double burden of many unpaid hours of household labour in addition to their paid work outside the home, which impacts the type of work they do, their work hours, and their salary. These two roles are not optional for women or for society: the supply of new workers must be constantly replenished through reproduction in order to sustain the economy, while stagnating wages and a rising cost of living mean that women must contribute to family finances as men’s wages are often insufficient to support the family. Yet public policies related to employment and unemployment are not framed around women’s double roles as mothers and workers; in fact, they penalize women for circumstances that are the direct outcome of their essential role in reproduction. In order to fulfill their socially mandated functions as mothers and workers, and pending a more equal gendered division of labour, women require supports such as childcare, job training, health care, and employment insurance. Policy reform is needed in all of these areas to equalize the respon - sibilities and opportunities of men and women in the labour market and the impacts of unemployment and underemployment. Policy reform would take into account women’s necessary absences from the labour market to give birth and raise children and ensure that their basic financial needs are met during these periods through equitable EI benefits. Flexible social policies would be adjusted to the multiple needs of individual women, rather than based on a male model of full-time secure employment applied indiscriminately to all workers. Working_Women.indd 86 09/08/19 2:15 PM Working Women in Canada : An Intersectional Approach, edited by Leslie Nichols, Canadian Scholars, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/umanitoba/detail.action?docID=6282096.

Created from umanitoba on 2023-01-23 06:47:19.

Copyright © 2019. Canadian Scholars. All rights reserved. Chapter 4 Unemployed and Underemployed Women in Canada  87 There has been ongoing attention in Canada to creating affordable childcare.

In 2017 the government of Ontario announced a commitment to creating afford - able childcare (Monsebraaten, 2017). This echoes the platform introduced in the 2015 federal election by the New Democratic Party, which called for a childcare fee of $15 a day, with 60% of the amount covered by the federal government and 40% covered by the provinces (Milligan, 2014). This proposal has its roots in Quebec’s childcare program, which costs between $8.05 and $22.15 a day, with subsidies for low-wage earners. Quebec’s program has been shown to increase employment opportunities for young mothers (Milligan, 2014). These programs illustrate the importance of actively engaging in policy analysis and activism both from within and outside the political arena to bring about policy changes to lessen hardship for women who are unemployed and underemployed. kEY R EADINGS Nichols, L. (2016). Motherhood and unemployment: Intersectional experiences from T oronto and Halifa x. Canadian Review of Social Policy , 76, 1–24.

Pupo, N., & Duff y, A. (2003). Caught in the net: The impact of changes to Canadian em - ployment insurance legislation on part-time workers. Social Policy and Society , 2(1), 1–11.

Shields, J., Silver, S., & Wilson, S. (2006). Assessing employment risk: Dimensions in the measurement of unemployment. Socialist Studies , 2(2), 105 –11 2 .

DISCUSSION Q UE STIONS 1. W hat factors contribute to underemployment becoming a major concern for Canadian women?

2.

W hich policy do you think would improve unemployed and underemployed women’s situation more: the proposed universal childcare program in Ontario and nationally, or the free tuition program in Ontario?

3.

W hat other policies should be introduced to better support unemployed and underem - ployed women in Canada?

REFERENCES Arriagada, P. (2018). A day in the life: How do older Canadians spend their time? O ttawa: Statistics Canada. Retrieved from https://w w w150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/75- 0 06-x /20180 01/article/54947-eng.htm Working_Women.indd 87 09/08/19 2:15 PM Working Women in Canada : An Intersectional Approach, edited by Leslie Nichols, Canadian Scholars, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/umanitoba/detail.action?docID=6282096.

Created from umanitoba on 2023-01-23 06:47:19.

Copyright © 2019. Canadian Scholars. All rights reserved. 88  Working Women in Canada Block, S., & Galabuzi, G. (2011). Canada’s colour coded labour market: The gap for racialized workers. Ottawa & Toronto: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives & the Wellesley Institute.

Blossfeld, H.-P., & Drobnic, S. (2001). A cross-national comparative approach to couples’ careers .

Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Breen, R., & Cooke, L. P. (2005). The persistence of the gendered division of domestic labou r. European Sociological Review, 21 (1) , 4 – 5 7.

Burda, M., Hamermesh, D. S., and Weil, P. (2007). Total work, gender, and social norms. NBER Working Paper No. 13000. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research. Retrieved from w w w.nber.org/papers/w13000.pdf ?new_window =1 Burlock, A. (2017). Women with disabilities. Ottawa: Statistics Canada. Retrieved from https://w w w150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-503-x/2015001/article/14695-eng.htm Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action & DisAbled Women’s Action Net - work. (2017, February). Women with disabilities in Canada: Report to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on the occasion of the committee’s initial review of Canada . Retrieved from http://fafia-afai.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/FAFIA _DAW N_CRPD 2 0 17. p d f Canadian Press. (2018, May 5). More than half of Canadians have less than $10,000 set aside for emergencies: BMO. Globe and Mail . Retrieved from https://w w w.theglobeandmail .com/globe-investor/personal-f inance/household-f inances/more-than-half-of- canadians-have-less-than-10000-set-aside-for-emergencies-bmo/article26172527/ Canadian Women’s Foundation. (2018). Fact sheet: Women and poverty in Canada. Retrieved from https://w w w.canadianwomen.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Fact-Sheet-WOMEN- POVERT Y-September-2018.pdf Chawla, R. K., & Uppla, S. (2012). Household debt in Canada . Ottawa: Statistics Canada.

Retrieved from w w w.statcan.gc.ca/pub/75-001-x/2012002/article/11636-eng.pdf Citizens for Public Justice. (2013). Poverty trends highlights: Canada 2013 . Retrieved from ht t p: //c p j . c a /s it e s /d e f a u lt /fi l e s /d o c s / Po v e r t y -Tr e n d s -H i g h l i g ht s -2 01 3 .p d f City for All Women Initiative. (2016). Racialized people: Equity and inclusion snapshot . Ottawa:

Author. Retrieved from http://www.cawi-ivtf.org/sites/default/files/ r acialized_people_ snapshot_en_ 2016_final_acc.pdf Cooke, M., & Gazso, A. (2009). Taking a life course perspective on social assistance use in Canada: A different approach. Canadian Journal of Sociology , 34(2), 349–372.

Council of Canadians with Disabilities. (2011). Annual report: 2010 –2011. Retrieved from http://w w w.ccdonline.ca/en/about/board/annualreports/2011 Employment and Social Development Canada. (2013). Snapshot of racialized poverty in Canada. Retrieved from w w w.esdc.gc.ca/eng/communities/reports/poverty_profile/ snapshot.shtml Working_Women.indd 88 09/08/19 2:15 PM Working Women in Canada : An Intersectional Approach, edited by Leslie Nichols, Canadian Scholars, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/umanitoba/detail.action?docID=6282096.

Created from umanitoba on 2023-01-23 06:47:19.

Copyright © 2019. Canadian Scholars. All rights reserved. Chapter 4 Unemployed and Underemployed Women in Canada  89 Employment and Social Development Canada. (2018). Employment Insurance Monitoring and Assessment Report for the fiscal year beginning April 1, 2016 and ending March 31, 2017. Retrieved from https://w w w.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/ programs/ei/ei-list/reports/monitoring2017.html Evans, P. M. (2009). Lone mothers, workfare and precarious employment: Time for a C anadian basic income? International Social Security Review, 62 (1), 45– 63.

Ferrao, V. (2010). Paid work: Women in Canada; A gender-based statistical report. Ottawa:

Statistics Canada, Social and Aboriginal Statistics Division. Retrieved from https://w w w150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/pub/89-503-x/2010001/article/11387-eng .pdf ?st= k s c 1uV N 9 Fleras, A. (2017). Inequality matters: Diversity and exclusion in Canada. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.

Fournier, G., Zimmermann, H., Masdonati, J., & Gauthier, C. (2018). Job loss in a group of older Canadian workers: Challenges in the sustainable labour market reintegration process. Sustainability , 10(7), 2245.

Galer, D. (2018). Working towards equity: Disability rights, activism, and employment in the late twentieth-century Canada . Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Gershuny, J. (2000). Changing times: Work and leisure in postindustrial society . Oxford, UK:

Oxford University Press.

Government of Canada. (2009). Canada’s economic action plan: A second report to Canadians .

Ottawa: Author.

Government of Ontario. (2017, March 29). Free tuition for hundreds of thousands of O ntario students. Retrieved from https://news.ontario.ca/opo/en/2017/03/free-tuition- for-hundreds-of-thousands-of-ontario-students.html Government of Ontario. (2018). Second career. Retrieved from https://w w w.ontario.ca/ page/second-career Gower, D. (1992). A note on Canadian unemployment since 1921. Perspectives on Labour and Income , 4(3). Retrieved from https://w w w150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/pub/75-001- x/1992003/87-eng.pdf ?st =ODepA4Gd Harvey, D. (2005). A brief history of neoliberalism. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Hochschild, A. R., & Machung, A. (1989). The second shift: Working parents and the revolution at home . New York: Viking Penguin.

Hudon, T. (2016). Visible minority women. In Women in Canada: A gender-based statis - tical report. Ottawa: Statistics Canada. Retrieved from w w w.statcan.gc.ca/pub/89- 503-x/2015001/article/14315-eng.htm Hudon, T., & Milan, A. (2016). Senior women. In Women in Canada: A gender-based statis - tical report. Ottawa: Statistics Canada. Retrieved from https://w w w150.statcan.gc.ca/ n1/pub/89-503-x/2015001/article/14316-eng.htm Working_Women.indd 89 09/08/19 2:15 PM Working Women in Canada : An Intersectional Approach, edited by Leslie Nichols, Canadian Scholars, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/umanitoba/detail.action?docID=6282096.

Created from umanitoba on 2023-01-23 06:47:19.

Copyright © 2019. Canadian Scholars. All rights reserved. 90  Working Women in Canada Kelly, M. B. (2013). Payment patterns of child and spousal support. Juristat. Statistics C anada, Catalogue no. 85-002-X. Ottawa: Statistics Canada. Retrieved from w w w .statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/2013001/article/11780-eng.pdf Krahn, H. J., Lowe, G. S., & Hughes, K. D. (2007). Work, industry and Canadian society (5th ed.). Toronto: Nelson Education.

Lamb, D. (2015). The economic impact of the great recession on Aboriginal people living off-reserve in Canada. Relations industrielles , 70(3), 457– 485.

Little, M. H. (2004). If I had a hammer: Retraining that really works. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.

MacDonald, D., & Friendly, M. (2017, December). Time out: Child care fees in C anada 2 017. Ottawa: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Retrieved from https://w w w . policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/f iles/uploads/publications/National%20Off ice/ 2017/12/Time%20Out.pdf Man, G. (2004). Gender, work and migration: Deskilling Chinese immigrant women in Canada. Women’s Studies International Forum , 27(2), 135–148.

Milligan, K. (2014, October 15). What can we learn from Quebec’s child care experience? Maclean’s. Retrieved from w w w.macleans.ca/economy/economicanalysis/what-can-we- learn-from-quebecs-child-care-experience/ Monsebraaten, L. (2017, June 6). Ontario commits to universally accessible child care. T oronto Star . Retrieved from w w w.thestar.com/news/queenspark /2017/06/06/ontario- commits-to-universally-accessible-child-care.html Moyser, M. (2017a). Aboriginal people living off-reserve and the labour market: Estimates from the Labour Force Survey, 2007–2015. Ottawa: Statistics Canada. Retrieved from https://w w w150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/71-588-x/71-588-x2017001-eng.htm Moyser, M. (2017b). Women and paid work. In Women in Canada: A gender-based statis- tical report . Ottawa: Statistics Canada. Retrieved from w w w.statcan.gc.ca/pub/89- 503-x /20150 01/article/14694-eng.htm Moyser, M., & Burlock, A. (2018). Time use: Total work burden, unpaid work, and leisure. In Women in Canada: A gender-based statistical report . Ottawa: Statistics Canada. Retrieved from https://w w w150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-503-x/2015001/article/54931-eng.htm Ng, W. (2011). A case study of the inequalities faced by disadvantaged, foreign-born, older workers in Canada. Toronto: Centre for Labour Management Relations.

R etrieved from www.ryerson.ca/content/dam/clmr/Publications/Executive%20Summaries/Executive %20Summary%20-%20%22An%20Immigrant%20All%20Over%20Again%3 F%22%20The%20Inequalities%20Faced%20by%20Disadvantaged%2C%20Foreign- Born%2C%20Older%20Workers%20in%20Canada.pdf Nichols, L. J. (2013). Analyzing policy frames for unemployed workers’ supports within Canada. AG: International Journal of Gender Studies , 2(3), 219–245. Working_Women.indd 90 09/08/19 2:15 PM Working Women in Canada : An Intersectional Approach, edited by Leslie Nichols, Canadian Scholars, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/umanitoba/detail.action?docID=6282096.

Created from umanitoba on 2023-01-23 06:47:19.

Copyright © 2019. Canadian Scholars. All rights reserved. Chapter 4 Unemployed and Underemployed Women in Canada  91 Nichols, L. (2014). Unemployed women in neo-liberal Canada: An intersectional analysis of social well-being. Unpublished dissertation, Ryerson University, Toronto.

Nichols, L. (2016a). Lived experiences of unemployed women in Toronto and Halifa x, C anada, who were previously precariously employed. Alternate Routes , 27, 162 –18 6 .

Nichols, L. (2016b). Motherhood and unemployment: Intersectional experiences from T oronto and Halifa x. Canadian Review of Social Policy , 76, 1–24.

Pupo, N., & Duff y, A. (2003). Caught in the net: The impact of changes to Canadian Em ployment Insurance legislation on part-time workers. Social Policy and Society , 2 (1), 1–11.

Rashid, R., Gregory, D., Kazemipur, A., & Scruby, L. (2013). Immigration journey: A ho - listic exploration of pre- and post-migration life stories in a sample of Canadian immi - grant women. International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care, 9 (4), 189 –202.

Shields, J., Silver, S., & Wilson, S. (2006). Assessing employment risk: Dimensions in the measurement of unemployment. Socialist Studies , 2(2), 105 –11 2 .

Statistics Canada. (2013). Disability in Canada: Initial findings from the Canadian Survey on Disability. Retrieved from https://w w w150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-654-x/89-654- x2013002-eng.htm Statistics Canada. (2015). Employment rates, by age. Retrieved from https://w w w150 . statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/71-222-x/2008001/sectionb/b-emp-age-eng.htm Statistics Canada. (2016). Employment by industry and sex. Retrieved from w w w.statcan .gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/labor10a-eng.htm Statistics Canada. (2017). Immigration and ethnocultural diversity: Key results from the 2016 census. Retrieved from https://w w w150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/171025/ dq171025b-eng.htm?indid =14428-1&indgeo =0 Statistics Canada. (2018a). Characteristics related to the age structure of the C anadian labour force in 2017 and 2036. Retrieved from https://w w w150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/ pub/89-28-0001/2018001/article/00005/age-eng.htm Statistics Canada. (2018b). Industry—North American industry classification system (NA - ICS) 2012 (425), employment income statistics (3), highest certificate, diploma or de - gree (7), aboriginal identity (9), work activity during the reference year (4), age (5a) and sex (3) for the population aged 15 years and over who worked in 2015 and reported employment income in 2015, in private households of Canada, provinces and territories and census metropolitan areas, 2016 census—25% sample data. Retrieved from https:// w w w12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/dt-td/Rp-eng.cfm?LANG =E & A PAT H =3& DE TA I L =0& DIM =0&FL =A&FREE =0&GC =0&GID =0&G K = 0&GR P =1& PID =112128&PRID =10&PTYPE =1094 45& S =0 & S H OWA L L = 0& SUB =0&Temporal =2 017& T H E M E =122&V ID =0&V NA MEE =&V NA MEF = Working_Women.indd 91 09/08/19 2:15 PM Working Women in Canada : An Intersectional Approach, edited by Leslie Nichols, Canadian Scholars, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/umanitoba/detail.action?docID=6282096.

Created from umanitoba on 2023-01-23 06:47:19.

Copyright © 2019. Canadian Scholars. All rights reserved. 92  Working Women in Canada Statistics Canada. (2018c). Table 1: Labour force characteristics by age group and sex, sea - sonally adjusted. Retrieved from https://w w w150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily- q uotidien/ 180706/t0 01a-eng.htm Statistics Canada. (2018d). Labour force characteristics by sex and detailed age group, a nnual. Retrieved from https://w w w150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid =1410 0 01801&pickMembers%5B0%5D =1.1&pickMembers%5B1%5D =2 .10 Statistics Canada. (2018e). Labour force characteristics by province, monthly, seasonally adjusted (Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick). Retrieved from w w w.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/ lfss01a-eng.htm Statistics Canada. (2018f ). Labour force status (8), visible minority (15), immigrant status and period of immigration (11), highest certificate, diploma or degree (7), age (13a) and sex (3) for the population aged 15 years and over in private households of C anada, provinces and territories, census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations, 2016 census—25% sample data. Retrieved from https://w w w12.statcan.gc.ca/census- r ecensement/2016/dp-pd/dt-td/Rp-eng.cfm?TABID =2& LANG =E & A PAT H =3& DE TA I L =0& DIM =0&FL =A&FREE =0&GC =0&GK =0&GR P =1& PID =110 692& PR ID =10&PTYPE =1094 45& S =0 & S H OWA L L =0& SUB =0&Temporal =2 017& T H E M E =124&V ID =0&V NA MEE =&V NA MEF = Statistics Canada. (2018g). Low income cut-offs (LICOs) before and after ta x by community and family size in 2016 constant dollars. Retrieved from w w w5.statcan.gc.ca/cansim/ a05?lang =eng& id =2060092 Statistics Canada. (2018h). Off-reserve First Nations people entering the labour force: Find - ings from the 2017 Aboriginal Peoples Survey. Retrieved from https://w w w150. s tatcan .gc.ca/n1/pub/11-627-m/11-627-m2018045-eng.htm Statistics Canada. (2018i). Supplementary unemployment rates, monthly, unadjusted for seasonality. Retrieved from w w w5.statcan.gc.ca/cansim/a26?lang =eng& id =2820085 Statistics Canada. (2018j). Visible minority (15), individual low-income status (6), low-income indicators (4), generation status (4), age (6) and sex (3) for the population in private households of Canada, provinces and territories, census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations, 2016 census—25% sample data. Retrieved from https:// w w w12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/dt-td/Rp-eng.cfm?LANG =E & A PAT H =3& DE TA I L =0& DIM =0&FL =A&FREE =0&GC =0&GID =0&G K = 0&GR P =1& PID =110563& PR ID =10&PTYPE =1094 45& S =0 & S H OWA L L = 0& SUB =999&Temporal =2016,2017&THEME =119&V I D =0&V NA MEE =& V NA MEF = Statistics Canada. (2019). Employee wages by industry, annual. Retrieved from https:// w w w150.statcan.gc.ca /t1/tbl1/en /t v.action?pid =1410006401&pickMembers%5B0%5 Working_Women.indd 92 09/08/19 2:15 PM Working Women in Canada : An Intersectional Approach, edited by Leslie Nichols, Canadian Scholars, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/umanitoba/detail.action?docID=6282096.

Created from umanitoba on 2023-01-23 06:47:19.

Copyright © 2019. Canadian Scholars. All rights reserved. Chapter 4 Unemployed and Underemployed Women in Canada  93 D=1.1&pick Members%5B1%5D =2.2&pick Members%5B2%5D =3.3&pick Member s%5B3%5D =5.3&pickMembers%5B4%5D =6.1 Stienstra, D. ( June 2010). Fact sheet: Women and restructuring in Canada. Ottawa: CR IAW. Retrieved from http://w w w.criaw-icref.ca/sites/criaw/files/ Women_and_ Restructuring_Factsheet_ June_2010.pdf Teghtsoonian, K. (1996). Promises, promises: “Choices for women” in Canadian and A merican child care policy debates. Feminist Studies , 22(1), 118 –14 6 .

Townson, M., & Hayes, K. (2007). Women and the Employment Insurance Program . Toronto:

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Turcotte, M. (2014). Persons with disabilities and employment. Insights on Canadian so - ciety. Ottawa: Statistics Canada. Retrieved from https://w w w150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/ pub/75-006-x/2014001/article/14115-eng.pdf ?st =QC0f4Ebt Ty yskä, V. (2014). Long and winding road: Adolescents and youth in Canada today (3rd e d .).

Toronto: Canadian Scholars’ Press.

Verbruggen. M., van Emmerick, H., Van Gils, A., Meng, C., & de Grip, A. (2015). Does early-career underemployment impact future career success? A path dependency per - spective. Journal of Vocational Behaviour , 90, 101–110.

Vosko, L. (2011). The challenge of expanding EI coverage: Charting exclusions and partial exclusions on the bases of gender, immigration status, age and place of residence and exploring avenues for inclusive policy redesign. Toronto: Mowat Centre for Policy In - novation, University of Toronto School of Public Policy and Governance. Retrieved from https://mowatcentre.ca/wp-content/uploads/publications/23_the_challenge.pdf Working_Women.indd 93 09/08/19 2:15 PM Working Women in Canada : An Intersectional Approach, edited by Leslie Nichols, Canadian Scholars, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/umanitoba/detail.action?docID=6282096.

Created from umanitoba on 2023-01-23 06:47:19.

Copyright © 2019. Canadian Scholars. All rights reserved. Working_Women.indd 94 09/08/19 2:15 PMWorking Women in Canada : An Intersectional Approach, edited by Leslie Nichols, Canadian Scholars, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/umanitoba/detail.action?docID=6282096.

Created from umanitoba on 2023-01-23 06:47:19.

Copyright © 2019. Canadian Scholars. All rights reserved.