The Employment Equity Act
Canada
Introduction
According to Status of Women Canada, the Employment Equity Act is one
of the most important initiatives in labour that incorporates a gender
perspective.
Needs Addressed
The Employment Equity Act addresses the need for government regulation
that will ensure that all members of the Canadian workforce have the same
access to employment and can gain employment free of discrimination.
Objectives
The objective of this Act is to achieve equality in the workplace so that no
person shall be denied employment opportunities or benefits for reasons
unrelated to ability. To achieve this goal, the Act also works to correct the
conditions of disadvantage in employment experienced by women,
aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities and members of visible
minorities by giving effect to the principle that employment equity means
more than treating persons in the same way, but also requires special
measures and the accommodation of differences.
Starting Date, Coverage, and Target Group
The Government of Canada enacted the first Employment Equity Act in
1986. Following a Parliamentary Review in 1995, a new Act came into force
in October 1996. The current Act applies to federally regulated private and
public sector organizations with 100 or more employees each
(approximately 500 employers). An additional 900 provincially-regulated
employers are covered by the Federal Contractors Program. Essentially, the
Act applies to almost 2 million people, or 12 per cent of Canada’s labour
force, while the remaining 88 per cent of the workforce is under provincial
jurisdiction.
Description
The purpose of the Act is to:
 achieve equality in the workplace by removing barriers to employment in
the Canadian labour market;

correct the conditions of disadvantage in employment for four designated
groups: women, Aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities and
members of visible minorities; and
 give effect to the principle that employment equity means more than
treating people in the same way; it also requires special measures and the
accommodation of differences.
There are 4 main programs that the government runs under the Employment
Equity Act. They include: the Legislated Employment Equity Program,
which covers federally regulated employers that fall under the Employment
Equity Act; the Federal Contractors Program, which applies to provincially
regulated employers with a national workforce in Canada of 100 or more
employees; the Separate Employers Initiative; and the Equal Pay Program,
which strives to eliminate sex-based wage discrimination in the federal
jurisdiction.
Strengths of the Program
One of the strengths of this program is its attempt to reward and celebrate
compliance with the Employment Equity Act's regulations. Starting in 1990,
the government introduced its annual Merit Awards Program. These awards
are granted to those organizations that have successfully undergone a
compliance review and have been found to be in compliance, have
implemented a work plan, and have maintained a representative workforce
in Canada. These awards give organizations a chance to highlight their
accomplishments, and gain public recognition.
Achievements
Each year, employers are required to submit to the government reports on
their hiring and labour practices. The 2002 Employment Equity annual
report has shown that many gains have been made by women in the
workplace. Some of the highlights include:
 The representation of women increased from 43.8% to 44.8% in the
workplace in 2001.
 Women had a significantly higher share of hirings in 2001, rising from
38.7% to 41.3%. In terms of numbers, 45,200 women were hired in 2001
compared to only 39,700 in 2000. This is the highest level of hires for
women since 1989 and almost 20,000 higher than the number of women
hired in 1997.
 The representation of women has been increasing in senior managerial
and professional jobs and decreasing in administrative and clerical
occupations. Banking had the highest representation of women (71.0%),
where they have been moving up to more managerial and professional
positions. Women were the majority in middle and other management in
Banking in 2001 (51.0%). The lowest representation of women was in
Transportation (23.0%), but they made good progress in several
occupations in this sector.
Challenges
According to the 2002 Employment Equity Act annual report, while many
gains have been made, women still face many challenges in the workplace.
For example, the salary gap between all men and all women in the
workforce under the Act was 20.6% in 2001. Women earned on average
79.4% of what men earned for full-time work. And unfortunately, this gap
widened for visible minority women and Aboriginal women against all
women. Given that women are designated as an employment equity group,
and the fact that a salary gap exists between women in each minority
designated group against all men, a situation of double jeopardy exists for
Aboriginal women, visible minority women, and women with disabilities.
These employees are disadvantaged twice: for being women and for
belonging in another designated group. This is evident not only in the salary
gap but also in the distribution of income and in the concentration in lower
occupations. While only 25.2% of all women earned $50,000 and over in
2001 compared to 47.4% of all men in the workforce under the Act, this
ratio was only 15.3% of Aboriginal women, 19.8% of women with
disabilities, and 22.0% of visible minority women. Thus, this report shows
that the Canadian workplace is still filled with challenges and discrimination
for many different groups of women.
Contact Information
René Maillet
Project Leader
Employment Equity Act Review
Tel: (819) 953-7521
E-mail: rene.maillet@hrdc-drhc.gc.ca
Webwite: http://info.load-otea.hrdcdrhc.gc.ca/workplace_equity/home.shtml
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