It’s time for action on the real economic challenges impacting workers and their families from coast to coast to coast.

“Gender equality is not a side issue; it is central to Canada’s economic security. A resilient care economy, strong public services, and decent union jobs are strategic assets that strengthen communities and industries alike,” said Bea Bruske, President of the CLC.  “Workers want politicians who will stand up for them. The Carney government needs to fight for workers, not side with big business.”

Right now, working women are being squeezed from every direction. Food prices are up, rent and mortgages are rising, child care spaces are still hard to come by in many communities, and public health care is strained. In 2025, 40% of women reported it was difficult or very difficult to meet financial needs.

The impacts of the affordability crisis are especially severe for Indigenous, Black, racialized, newcomer, young, 2SLGBTQI+ women, and women with disabilities. These workers are overrepresented in low-wage, precarious, and care-sector jobs, the very sectors most vulnerable to cuts, privatization, and underfunding.

But when governments tighten budgets, it is women who absorb the impact: through unpaid care, reduced hours, lost services, and increased exposure to violence. Economic downturns do not affect everyone equally: research shows that periods of instability are linked to increases in domestic and gender-based violence. When wages stagnate and services are cut, women and gender diverse people’s safety and independence are put at risk.

Unfortunately, this government’s response to the trade war has largely focused on tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy and corporate handouts. As we know, siding with big corporations will only deepen gender inequities and economic disparities.

“No trade deal is better than a bad deal, especially one that fails to centre workers, jobs, communities and Canadian industries,” said Bruske. “Investments in women’s economic justice are critical to strengthening Canada’s economic security.”

This means concrete action: enforcing pay equity, eliminating gender-based violence in the world of work, and making sustained investments in Canada’s care economy at the scale to meet the moment and end the workforce crisis. 

“Women and gender diverse workers are leading the fight for gender justice at work and decent, safe jobs in every sector of Canada’s economy,” said Siobhán Vipond, Executive Vice President of the CLC. “Through our unions, at the bargaining table and in government, we’re pushing for stronger protections and better policies to make our voices heard.”

For decades, unionized women have led the push to make gender justice a core labour priority by fighting for pharmacare, affordable child care, pay equity, gun control, expanded parental leave, and paid domestic violence leave.  

“When we rise up together, we make real change. Women won’t accept the status quo. We’re fighting for a more feminist and equitable future for our workplaces, communities, and our economy,” adds Vipond. 

This IWD, union women and gender diverse workers are Rising Up from coast to coast to coast, and demanding leadership from our federal government on the issues that matter to workers and their families:  

• Fighting back on indiscriminate tariffs that put Canadian jobs and communities at risk.
• Implementing the National Action Plan on Gender Based Violence, including the elimination of violence and harassment in the world of work.
• Ending the workforce crisis in the care economy by ensuring the new Care Economy Workforce Alliance delivers concrete improvements to wages and working conditions across care sectors, as well as recommendations to meaningfully invest in both paid and unpaid care sectors. 

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Canada’s unions are marking 2025 gender equality week by rising with a bold vision for gender justice at the heart of our economy.

“Unions know thatthe economic resilience of our country, depends upon the labour of women and gender diverse workers, whether that is in the workplace, at home or in our communities,” said Bea Bruske, President of the Canadian Labour Congress.

Unfortunately, women, and in particular Indigenous, Black, racialized, newcomer, young, 2SLGBTQIA+, and women with disabilities, continue to bear the brunt of the affordability crisis.

This is why the CLC is urging this government to act now on gender inequities in our economy by: 

• Investing in the value of women’s work by adding an additional $20 million over three years to expedite the work of the Office of the Pay Equity Commissioner. This includes ensuring that this office has the resources necessary to support and enforce compliance, including regular independent public reviews and sustained funding for the development of the disaggregated data needed to support pay equity initiatives. 

• Providing sufficient and long-term core operational funding to women’s rights and equality-seeking organizations so they have the stability they need to continue to provide services and carry out vital advocacy and research, including an initial investment of $1 million for consultations on the development of a National Strategy for the Gender-Based Violence Workforce that addresses issues of precarious work, access to decent salaries, pensions, benefits, supports for workers, and retention and recruitment issues. 

• Investing in key social infrastructure to address the epidemic of gender-based violence, including fully funding the continuation of the 10-year National Action Plan to End Gender Based Violence.

• Modernizing the Employment Equity Act with a commitment of $20 million over the next three years to establish:

• A dedicated Employment Equity Commissioner (similar to the Pay Equity Commissioner);

• Two new designated equity groups under the Act: Black people and 2SLGBTQIA+ people; and

• Improved data collection and disaggregation to support intersectional analyses and a better understanding of the distinct and nuanced challenges and barriers to employment faced by equity groups.

• Committing $30 million over the next three years to the operation of the Sectoral Table on the Care Economy to meaningfully respond to the gendered impacts of Canada’s care crisis.

“Any plan on the part of the government to strengthen our economy, which does not include investments in care and care work, will fall short of ensuring all workers, particularly women, are able to fully participate in the labour market,” said Siobhan Vipond, Executive Vice-President of the CLC and member of Canada’s inaugural sectoral table on the Care Economy.

“As this government prepares to unveil its first full budget this fall, Canada’s unions are putting our federal leaders on notice: it’s time to centre gender equity in our budgetary policy and ensure it is a key proponent of sustaining Canada’s economic growth,” added Vipond.

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“It’s no secret that the gendered impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have hurt women the most, especially those who also face other forms of discrimination and marginalization,” said Marie Clarke Walker, CLC Secretary-Treasurer. “Black, Indigenous and racialized women, newcomers, women with disabilities, and queer and trans communities have been among the hardest hit by COVID-19.”

At the beginning of the pandemic, more than 1.5 million women lost their jobs. Many others saw their hours and income reduced in order to care for children or other family members. Unsurprisingly, women took on the lion’s share of paid and unpaid care work keeping homes, schools and communities afloat over the past year.

Of those women fortunate enough to keep their jobs, many have been on the front lines of this health crisis. They are doing the work that keeps our communities healthy, safe, fed and supported while facing increased risk of exposure to the virus, higher exposure to violence and harassment, and inadequate access to PPE and paid sick days.

“Canada hasn’t seen women’s labour force participation this low since the mid 80s,” said Clarke Walker. “Without immediate and concrete investments to ensure a safe and accessible national system for child care, as well as a concerted effort to address the low wages and poor working conditions across the care sector, we risk losing 30 years of gains in women’s economic participation.”

The federal government’s plan for Canada’s economic recovery must address the precarity faced by workers in the care economy, must invest in a universal childcare program, and must ensure that women who have been pushed out of the workforce get back to work in good jobs.

Since launching the #DoneWaiting campaign in 2018, the CLC has called on the federal government to value women’s work, end violence and harassment, fix the child care crisis and make work fair for women. Three years later, it’s taken a pandemic to underscore how essential women’s labour is to the wellbeing of our communities and of our economic well-being.

Supporters are invited to mark International Women’s Day 2021 by texting IWD2021 to 5525 to join the movement for women’s economic justice.

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