In Quebec, the average pay gap between women and men who have a similar career path and work full time stands at nine per cent the first year they finish their CEGEP or university education.

This gap widens throughout their early career, reaching 16 per cent five years after graduation, says a new study by the Institut du Québec and the University of Toronto’s FutureSkills Research Lab, as part of the Research Initiative on Education + Skills.

“Although there are now more young women in Quebec graduating with a postsecondary diploma or degree than their male counterparts, they continue to be paid less, even when many of the factors that contribute to labour market inequality, such as having children, are removed from the equation,” said Emna Braham, deputy director of the Institut du Québec.

Among the highest-earning graduates, such as those in the top 10 per cent, the gender gap is particularly acute at 13 per cent one year post-graduation and 19 per cent five years down the road.

“In conducting this analysis, we had access to a new source of data, which allowed us to map out graduates’ academic trajectory over time and cross-reference this information with their earnings,” explained co-author Annie Pan. “We were also able to isolate the effect that certain factors might have on earnings, including the level and field of study, the chosen line of business and whether or not there were any dependent children in the household.”

Women CEGEP and university graduates also find it harder to climb the ranks and land the best-paying jobs. :Contrary to popular belief, women don’t bump up against the ‘glass ceiling’ at the midpoint of, or later on in, their career when it comes to higher-profile and higher-earning positions. This downward pressure is something they have to contend with every step of the way,” added Braham.

As the study finds, women are less likely to work for organizations that pay well and tend to seek out employers and industries where work-life balance is more of a priority. The expectation that they may eventually have family responsibilities to fulfil, as a parent or caregiver, and the mental strain this implies, appear to influence the decisions they make.

Although the gender pay gap in Quebec narrowed significantly between the 1960s and the 2010s, progress in this regard has stalled. Measures that address inequality, including pay equity legislation and family-friendly workplace policies (focusing on such issues as child care and parental leave), are not enough on their own.

The study’s authors offer a number of potential courses of action to tackle economic disparities between women and men:

Educational institutions

• Help offset the digital literacy gap between women and men by developing more inclusive learning methods.

Private sector

• Implement career support programs to empower women to rise to the highest-paying C-suite roles.
• Test innovative new approaches to setting wages in a way that is less detrimental to women.

Government

• Modernize family policies so that family responsibilities are shared more evenly by women and men. One option could be to increase the number of weeks of parental leave available to fathers who wish to spend more time as the primary caregiver for their children. This type of leave would help them feel more confident in their parenting skills, give them a better understanding of the workload involved and, over the longer term, foster a more balanced approach to sharing domestic and family tasks.
• Adjust the assistance available to businesses to provide better support for human resources management, thus making it possible to 1) introduce inclusion and diversity measures; and 2) support career development, especially through on-the-job training opportunities for women.
• Set an example and push for a better gender balance among the positions of power in government corporations and other public- and parapublic-sector organizations.

The original report (in French) can be downloaded here: Écarts de revenus au Québec – Dès leur sortie du cégep ou de l’université, les femmes gagnent déjà moins que les hommes.