Ontario Pay Equity Legislation Backgrounder

Applying a nonprofit sector lens to Ontario’s Pay Equity Legislation

Ontario’s Pay Equity Act is a critical way in which to reduce the gender wage gap for women workers, particularly for those in women-majority sectors like the nonprofit sector.

Nonprofit employers have noted a number of challenges related to implementing the legislation, especially because provincial funders do not always pay for it and pay comparisons are often arbitrary and out of date. ONN looks forward to discussing with government how to make the legislation work better for the sector while working with nonprofit employers and employees to better understand the act.

The ultimate goal is for pay equity to be effectively advanced in the sector.

Pay Equity – equal pay for work of equal value – is part of decent work for women

The Pay Equity Act is a way in which to ensure women are making comparable pay to men where their work is of equal value. It can help mitigate the gender wage gap for women, particularly for women working in nonprofits. The nonprofit sector across Ontario and Canada consists of an estimated 80 percent of women workers, many of whom are the most marginalized workers in the labour market.

Call to action

  1. Read our backgrounder
  2. Share the backgrounder in your networks: put a link to the brief in your newsletters, send this webpage to your networks, post it on social media
  3. Send us your pay equity story so we can document it: pamela@theonn.ca
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