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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Gender-based violence and harassment continue to threaten the safety, dignity, and equality of women and gender-diverse workers. The CLC’s own research revealed that gender diverse workers (82%) and women (76%) experience higher rates of harassment and violence at work compared to their colleagues. In addition, a recent report on harassment and violence in Canadian workplaces revealed 843 reported occurrences of third-party (meaning clients, patients, customers, etc.) violence and harassment in 2022, reflecting a whopping 41% increase from 2021.

“These are not just numbers,” said Siobhán Vipond, Executive Vice President of the CLC. “They reflect the alarming, daily reality of workers whose safety and dignity are still at risk. They tell the story of a crisis that demands action, now.”

There are several factors contributing to this increase in third-party violence and harassment. People are facing mounting pressures from a worsening affordability crisis, with scarce resources to address their needs. Staffing shortages and systems stretched too thin may also impact the way people interact with front-line workers, leading to dangerous situations for these workers.

Moreover, in recent years, we have seen some conservative political leaders stoke fear, anger and hate to distract from their lack of solutions. This emboldens third parties to harass workers in public-facing jobs, disproportionately targeting 2SLGBTQI+ workers, Black, racialized, Indigenous workers, and those with disabilities at an alarming rate.

Despite unions sounding the alarm, the federal government has yet to work with provinces, territories, unions and employers to meaningfully implement ILO C-190, the world’s first global treaty to eliminate violence and harassment in the world of work.

“While governments delay, the labour movement is taking action. Across the country, Canada’s unions are leading the fight to end gender-based violence through collective bargaining, education, and political action,” adds Vipond.

While we are proud of the workers and activists who are fighting every day to make workplaces and communities safer, fairer, and more inclusive, unions cannot do it alone.

We are calling on all levels of government to make work safer for everyone by:

• Coordinating a tripartite national strategy to implement ILO C-190 that includes measures to address the specific challenge of growing violence and harassment from third parties; and

• Conducting a national public awareness campaign about third-party violence and harassment as part of Canada’s National Action Plan on Gender-Based Violence and the implementation strategy for ILO C190.

“Canada’s unions will continue to rise up, to demand accountability from those in power, and to fight for a future where every worker is safe, respected, and free from violence and harassment,” said Vipond.

Check out the CLC’s research on violence and harassment at work here.

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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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Large corporations are worsening the affordability crisis for workers and their families, causing the cost of housing, groceries, and other necessities to skyrocket. This crisis hurts everyone, but it’s significantly more challenging for those who already have limited access to resources, including women and gender-diverse people. 

In Canada, sixty percent of minimum wageworkers are women, almost a third of women live in homes that are unaffordable, inadequately sized, or in disrepair,  and according to a 2023 Statistics Canada report, 21 percent of families with a female major income earner were food insecure versus 16% with a male major earner and food insecurity was highest among female lone parent families (41%).

Canadian workers reject the politics of hate and division peddled by conservatives. We know everyone is being squeezed, and we demand that each party get serious and commit to real solutions that pave the way for a better future. 

Take action for Gender Equality Week 2024! Join our Workers Together campaign and tell federal political leaders:

We demand a better deal that makes corporations pay their fair share so workers can finally get ahead.

By making wealthy corporations pay their due in taxes, we can reinvest in the things that keep our communities strong, like programs to make life more affordable, our care systems, and ensuring everyone has a place to call home.

We demand pharmacare: workers need a better deal that finally puts our needs first.

Overall, too many workers can’t afford medications due to corporate greed and conservative efforts to protect corporate profits. In particular, women are more likely than men not to fill their prescription drugs because of cost – whether or not they have drug insurance.

We demand a better deal that prioritizes care and care workers.

Women make up most of the paid and unpaid care economy, and jobs caring for children, older adults, and people with disabilities tend to be underpaid and precarious.  

Care workers look after our children, parents, and loved ones, yet conservative provincial and federal leaders prioritize cuts over supporting them. It’s no wonder there are worker shortages in health care, childcare, and other care sectors, and childcare is becoming harder to find.

We demand a better deal that prioritizes good jobs and a say in our future.

Extreme weather events are threatening our lives and livelihoods. Rising temperatures cause intense wildfires, water scarcity, droughts and displacement; it’s also projected to cause income losses for Canadians, especially low-income households. 

Climate change disproportionately impacts the cultures, traditions and economies of Indigenous peoples and the traditional roles of Indigenous women, girls, and gender-diverse people in their communities. Extreme weather events have also been shown to increase the demand for services related to intimate partner violence.

It’s time to demand a deal for workers that puts us at the forefront, paving the way for a better future. Let’s work together and make our voices heard.

CLC Executive Vice-President, Siobhán Vipond: “Wage gaps are widening because of the unequal impacts of the affordability crisis, with little relief in sight. Women are over-represented in part-time and low-paying jobs, while women and gender-diverse people are more likely to be inadequately housed and food insecure. When the costs of basic necessities like food, housing and utilities go up, these longstanding inequalities are compounded. It’s time for the federal government to act.” CLC President, Bea Bruske: “Rising prices have led to skyrocketing profits for the wealthiest people and corporations, while everyone else is stuck footing the bill. Workers are fed up having to subsidize the lavish lifestyle of Canada’s multi-millionaires and billionaires. Their bill is due, and it’s time for these profiteers to pay up. The federal government has a duty to make big corporations and investors pay what they owe and put that money back into social programming that supports workers and our families.”

CLC President, Bea Bruske: “Rising prices have led to skyrocketing profits for the wealthiest people and corporations, while everyone else is stuck footing the bill. Workers are fed up having to subsidize the lavish lifestyle of Canada’s multi-millionaires and billionaires. Their bill is due, and it’s time for these profiteers to pay up. The federal government has a duty to make big corporations and investors pay what they owe and put that money back into social programming that supports workers and our families.”

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While many us are making sure that we #stayathome, we still need to be aware of the threat of homophobic and transphobic violence that persists online, at home, and for those on the front lines.

“This year, we are taking action online to take a stand, joining people around the world for a #VirtualDayofPink,” said Larry Rousseau, Executive Vice-President of the Canadian Labour Congress. “Solidarity is a key strength of our union movement. The #VirtualDayofPink is an opportunity for leaders in the trade union movement, in business and government, as well as everyday people, to stand together against homophobia and transphobia everywhere and in all of its forms.”

Canada’s unions have a role to play in educating and empowering our members so that all workplaces are welcoming and inclusive for all. In the context of COVID-19, our federal government needs to step up to ensure that 2SLGBTQI people are not left behind during and after this pandemic.

Around the world, 2SLGBTQI communities face disproportionately high levels of harassment and violence.

According to research from EGALE Canada, “Approximately 47 per cent of LGB workers (in Canada) have experienced workplace harassment and/or violence based on their sexual attraction (orientation), while approximately 90 per cent of transgender and gender variant employees report experiencing workplace harassment and/or violence stemming from their gender identity and expression.”

“Everyone has a role to play to better protect the rights of 2SLGBTQI people and ensure that they have the support they need in our workplaces, in our unions and in our communities,” said Rousseau “Our federal government must lead efforts with a dedicated gender-based plus analysis of the pandemic’s impacts, and by ensuring that additional emergency funds are available to support 2SLGBTQI organizations and communities to survive this crisis.”

You can mark the International Day of Pink right by:

1. Tagging your union and snapping a photo of you in pink to share online with the hashtag #VirtualDayofPink.
2. Downloading the CLC’s newest resource: Workers in Transition and learn how to be a Trans ally in your workplace today.
3. Read, share and support the demands of over 100 2SLGBTQI organizations amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Learning more about International Day of Pink and how you can join #VirtualDayofPink here.

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The CLC’s #donewaiting campaign outlines concrete ways the federal government can remove three key barriers to women’s economic justice: wage discrimination, sexual harassment and violence and the child care crisis.

“Women in Canada want equal pay for work of equal value. We want to be able to go to work feeling safe and secure. And we want to be able to go to work knowing our kids are safe and well cared for,” said CLC Secretary-Treasurer Marie Clarke Walker.

“Our campaign will build on mounting public pressure for decision makers in Canada and around the world to move beyond rhetoric to take action that will make feminist rhetoric a feminist reality,” she added.

The #donewaiting campaign highlights how different women experience these barriers differently.

“We know that Indigenous women, racialized women, and women with disabilities face higher rates of violence and barriers to support, wider wage gaps, and have a harder time finding and paying for the child care they need to be able to work or study,” said Clarke Walker.

The campaign invites people to write to their Member of Parliament to take action, and to share the campaign on social media.

CLC President Hassan Yussuff said that although the campaign is being launched in time for International Women’s Day, it will continue through until the next federal election.

“This campaign is about shaping an agenda for women’s economic justice in the 2019 federal election,” he said.

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