Social inequality in Canada

Social Inequality in Canada

Prejudice and Inequality

The most common definition of prejudice used in academic circles is one given by Glover (1999) which states that prejudice is "thinking ill of others without sufficient warrant." Webster's Dictionary states that prejudice is an opinion that is formed without fair examination of the facts. Literally, it means prejudging people or not liking them because they are different, without knowing anything about them personally (Canada & the World Backgrounder, 1996). Two closely related terms are discrimination and racism. Discrimination means acting and behaving in a negative way toward members of some distinct group for the sole reason that they belong to that group (Canada & the World Backgrounder, 1996).

This may include refusing to hire someone for a job or refusing to rent them an apartment because of the color of their skin, their gender, or whether they look like they are a 'quality' person. Racism means holding beliefs that people from one distinct group are somehow superior to people in another distinct group (Canada & the World Backgrounder, 1996; Dobbins & Skillings, 2000). In this inequality, the effects of racism and discrimination on the minority group reinforce the problem. This has often made it difficult for people of certain ethnic groups to become high educational and social achievers, or to attain certain jobs. Racists then use this lack of achievement as evidence that members of the group are inferior (Canada & the World Backgrounder, 1996).

Racism and discrimination are common threads in prejudiced activity, and this works to perpetuate the problems that some individuals have faced and are still facing in society today, but they are not the only ones. Class discrimination and gender discrimination are also big issues. All three types of discrimination will be touched on briefly here, but the main focus will be on gender discrimination and how that relates to working in Canada. The research question for this study will be: Does being a woman in Canada stop a person from getting equal treatment when looking for a job and when being paid for a job?

Literature Review

Racial Discrimination

The nature of race and its association with in-groups and out-groups has been debated. Sandhu and Aspy (1997) wrote that the process of dissolving racial identity in a diverse and racist population is extremely difficult. Minority groups are expected to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, regardless of societal bias against them (Sandhu & Aspy, 1997; Utsey, et al., 2002). Often, however, they need help to do this, and they are not getting this help based on the prejudices that others have toward them. Other minorities are confused by the dual messages of equality and inequality that are prevalent in American society and therefore may alternate between feeling that they need help and believing that they can succeed on their own.

Class Discrimination

The notion that we can identify individuals who are superior based on an agreed-upon classification is not new. This belief is called classism. For a long time, the color of a person's skin and other physical characteristics provided a means for easy classification. In early America, for example, black skin indicated that you were likely a slave, and thus automatically designated to a lower social and economic class than those with white skin. However, in actuality and in simple terms, there are only two classes: the oppressed and the oppressor, the powerful and the powerless, or the haves and the have-nots. This hierarchy of oppression is elastic, at times seeing the Irish, Jewish, homosexuals, and other minority groups as the oppressed, but it has historically been highly linked to race above any other classification.

There is not much that can be done to eliminate the biological differences between ethnic groups, but society can change the differences created by our own political and economic systems, and some psychologists even argue that classism can be treated as a mental health issue (Dobbins & Skillings, 2000). Classism, therefore, becomes like a double-edged sword and both the oppressors and the oppressed suffer for it. The oppressors experience guilt, shame, and remorse, while the oppressed experience anger, despair, and thoughts of revenge (Sandhu & Aspy, 1997).

Gender Discrimination

There are many theories available for the explanation of prejudice, whether based on gender or another issue (Sandhu & Aspy, 1997). One explanation that makes the individual responsible, given by Lu (1999), proposes that prejudice was likely the result of unresolved personality conflicts. Personality is described as containing both immature and mature aspects, as well as controlling and surrendering aspects. Lu (1999) believed that behavior was a result of the dominating aspects as any given time. It has also been noted that if immature and controlling aspects are dominant, an individual may behave in a prejudiced manner.

Conflicts within the personality may also result in prejudiced behavior, due to the projection of personal inadequacies and inferiorities onto other groups or individuals within those groups. Further evidence from survey and laboratory studies that looked at the way individuals feel about themselves and about others suggests that personality variables and cultural orientation moderate the impact of racial discrimination (Harrell, 2003). For example, those people that were brought up in a culture of acceptance of others show less racial discrimination than those that were brought up in a culture that had very strong ideas about right and wrong when it came to issues of skin color, ethnic characteristics, and other issues, such as the place of a woman in society.

Taking on Gender Discrimination Through Print

The book Discounted Labour: Women Workers in Canada talks about a very crucial period that took place in industrial capitalism. This was largely between the years of 1870 and 1939 (Frager & Patrias, 2006). Protective labor laws and minimum wage issues affected the economic well-being of the working class women during that time period, but some of the changes were not what most people would have expected them to be. This period in history was also a time where many women were seen joining the paid workforce. (Frager & Patrias, 2006) However, even though women increased in numbers in the employment field they struggled for the good jobs and a fair wage, traditionally getting paid less than men did for the same or similar work.

The book, therefore, looks at many of the historical issues behind the persistent inequality that women faced within the paid workforce (Frager & Patrias, 2006). Women were confined to the jobs that paid less and the work that they did was not seen to be nearly as valuable as the work that men did. Many women also found that they lacked union membership, experience in the workforce, and training for many jobs, but some of these women did resist being subordinate. There have always been discrepancies in the earnings and employment patterns of women, regardless of whether one is talking about unskilled labor or about the higher-skilled positions, and for this reason the book looks not only at the salaried positions of women but the lower-skilled and lower-paying jobs as well (Frager & Patrias, 2006).

Also examined by the authors were the divisions that are seen among various women based on their racial, ethnic, and social class differences and the way those differences are affected by the female gender where they might not be affected in the same way or to the same degree by the male gender (Frager & Patrias, 2006). The struggle for gender equality in Canada is a historic one, much like the struggle for the same issue within the United States and various other countries. For this reason the book is very important for all that are interested in Canada's history or in the gender equality issue throughout the ages. Even though there were many reforms that took place for women, their standing in the workplace was not substantially improved for quite some time, and they fought very hard for what they did get (Frager & Patrias, 2006). It is important, therefore, to discuss the minimum wage issue and how the change in it came about.

Historically, minimum wage has been through a great many changes. It was designed to be the lowest wage that an industry could legally pay to a person that worked for them, regardless of job or gender (Frager & Patrias, 2006). Minimum wage was originally established to ensure that all individuals could have a standard of living that would provide them with a reasonable amount of health and decency. There have been many ways in the past that minimum wage has been changed. These include collective bargaining from labor unions, by board action, by arbitration, and by legislation (Frager & Patrias, 2006).

There were both pros and cons to minimum wage and gender equality in the workforce in Canada at that time, just as there are pros and cons to any issue of any real significance at all (Frager & Patrias, 2006). Naturally, women wanted to make more money and to be recognized for their time and talents. Those individuals that are at the low end of the spectrum when it comes to earning wages would be happy to see more money in their paychecks as well, and many of the women that were in the workforce during that time were able to perform the jobs just as well as the men could but they were generally not allowed the opportunity (Frager & Patrias, 2006). Even for the women that were allowed to 'compete' with the men, they were still paid significantly less than the men were paid for the same kind of work (Frager & Patrias, 2006).

Paying women more money and paying them equally with men helps out the entire economy for a while because the individuals that have more money are more likely to spend it rather than save it for a time when they may need it most (Frager & Patrias, 2006). A raise in pay is a comforting thing to many individuals and they will often plan what they are going to do with this money in such a way that is often spent before they ever receive it. It is not necessarily true that all women in Canada at that time would have done this, but it is likely that the economy overall would have been improved if there had been more equality.

Minimum wage issues and how much women were paid were not the only concerns, however. Another concern was the fact that there was no gender equality in the Canadian workforce at that time, and there was also not that much gender equality in Canada overall during those years (Frager & Patrias, 2006). The traditional gender roles that many people were used to were changing rapidly, though, as women demanded reform and were willing to fight for it. The concepts of 'women's work' and 'men's work' were no longer as strong as they used to be, especially toward the end of that time period. There are still some things that women cannot do as well as men and vice versa, however (Frager & Patrias, 2006). Women tend to be better on average at careers that are more nurturing and supportive of others, and men tend to be better at jobs that require strength and analytical thinking. This may be why more men are involved with careers that are math or science oriented, and more women are in professions such as nursing that have traditionally been viewed as being more caring.

Despite this, however, there is much more equality in the workplace than there was years ago (Frager & Patrias, 2006). Women have more rights and they are more accepted, and men that do not have traditionally male careers are not as often viewed as being homosexual or having issues with their masculinity. The equality that is seen is still not complete, however, as there are professions that try to keep one particular gender out as much as possible. This happens more often with women than it does with men, and even though women are accepted into jobs that they previously could not have held they often find that there is a 'glass ceiling' that they cannot get past (Frager & Patrias, 2006).

As for women in certain professions, there are still disproportionate numbers in many cases. Professions that are heavily geared to math and science still have a much larger number of men, and nurturing professions still have a much larger number of women (Frager & Patrias, 2006). However, evidence suggests that this might not have anything to do with gender equality, but with genetics instead. Men and women are very different in ways that have nothing to do with their physical characteristics. Research suggests that they may also be 'wired' differently, and that different issues are important to them (Frager & Patrias, 2006). Some of this comes from how they are raised by their parents and what they see in their culture and society, but some of it also comes from genetic differences that are just being realized by scientists.

It is suggested that men are geared toward financial and corporate success as being evidence of their masculinity, and women are more interested in the home and the family as evidence of their femininity (Frager & Patrias, 2006). While this is, of course, a generalization, it does seem to hold true for the majority of the population. What makes some men stay at home with their children while their wives work a construction job or climb the corporate ladder is not really known, since these kinds of things go against tradition and genetics, but it does appear that women are becoming more interested in this type of work. The only field that does not seem to be gaining more women is research and development where math and science are concerned. Women are generally not as good at these things as men, just as men are generally not as good at listening and being empathetic. These gender differences may have much to be with why women and men have overall remained in gender-specific jobs and careers, although society and tradition has undoubtedly played a part as well (Frager & Patrias, 2006).

Methodology

The data for this study came from articles written about discrimination and inequality, and also from the information contained in a book written about the specific subject of gender inequality in Canada. This means that the sample size was very small, but not that it does not provide enough information to adequately answer the question. There is clear evidence in the literature review that social inequality is still very prevalent in Canada and throughout the world. Information for this study also came from Websites which offer data regarding Canada, so that the information seen in the review of the articles and book could be either confirmed or shown to be suspect. For example, the following tables represent the income information for males and for females in 2000 and in 2005.

Male

Total - Population 15 years and over with employment income 8,664,545 9,480,555

Median employment income $34,097 32,874

Average employment income $43,010 43,869

Standard error of average employment income $44 60

Female

Total - Population 15 years and over with employment income 7,751,240 8,720,710

Median employment income $22,447 21,543

Average employment income $27,356 28,073

Standard error of average employment income $20 24

Source: http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/data/topics/Index.cfm

Clearly, the money that women make in Canada is significantly lower than the money that men make. Some of this is likely related to the types of jobs that men and women traditionally hold, but there are enough men applying for 'women's jobs' and enough women applying for 'men's jobs' that this is less of a determining factor than it once was. Until a more thorough study is done on what these numbers mean and where they come from as they relate to what jobs these individuals hold, no official answers can be given.

Results

The traditional understanding of gender identity and what is acceptable for each gender has been undermined by popular culture. While many traditions are still around when it comes to gender, there are more changes being made in many areas, such as gay marriage and other issues, that were not seen during the time period that the book discusses. However, the equality that women fought for (and won) during that time laid the groundwork for much of the equality and other issues that are being addressed today. Many of the individuals that would traditionally be expected to live their lives a certain way are bucking that tradition and living their lives in the way that they feel most comfortable with, just as the authors show many women trying to do in the past.