“Equal pay for equal work”: Early Childhood Educators point to wage gap after adoption of universal pre-primary programs

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Gender Equality Issue

Claudia Chender said although the NDP supported and endorsed the government’s decision to establish a universal pre-primary program, it warned the Liberals the move could ‘de-stabilize’ the province’s daycare system without a significant increase in funding. Chender said that’s what’s happening today — and unless the Department of Education invests more money in paying Early Childhood Educators and expanding access, fewer women are likely to go back to work during or after the pandemic if child-care remains inadequate..

‘During the pandemic last spring, I think this government had no choice but to pay to keep daycare centres whole because if they didn’t, the centres would close and tonnes of people would be out of the workforce,” said Chender. “That was a good choice but it was the bare minimum. The govt rolled out a universal program for all four-year-olds in the province and we said then they would need a phase 2, universal low-cost childcare program that would eliminate these disparities we’re talking about now.’

In Quebec, where the provincial government has funded universal daycare for 20 years, participation rates for women in the labour force are the highest in North America. Chender believes providing people who work in childcare with decent paying jobs and benefits could also go a long way to stimulating economic recovery here.”

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