Today, women are leading by example. At CAPE, women are showing up from the grassroots to the national executive level to demand better working conditions for themselves, their colleagues and the next generations.
Advancements have certainly been made in the past decades. Standing on the shoulders of the struggles of Canadian women for employment equity and social justice over decades, women now comprise just over half of Canada’s federal workforce – including at the executive level.
There’s still a long way to go. Achieving pay equity in the federal public sector – something that should be an easy win – is still an ongoing process. Still, this process will ensure that work traditionally done by women is no longer undervalued and underpaid. The massive gains made in equity, inclusion, and diversity in our workplaces are now under threat with a surging global reaction to those gains threatening to claw them back.
The rolling back of remote work rights only to force workers to commute to decrepit offices for no reason is especially detrimental to women, who still bear the highest burden when it comes to childcare and household responsibilities. Having the freedom and flexibility to work remotely has allowed women to participate more fully in the workforce and undoing this progress will have significant consequences for all of us.
CAPE’s own membership is over 60 percent women. A members’ resolution which passed at the 2024 annual general meeting on women’s health and menopause means we’ll be taking an active role in fostering awareness and creating a supportive work environment to ensure that all women can continue to thrive in their careers with confidence, dignity and the necessary supports.
International Women’s Day exists because of women in the labour movement struggling against exploitation and domination in the workplace, as well as in our unions and society. On International Women’s Day we honour our past and current leaders who have fought to make our workplaces, our unions, our communities, and our world more just and more inclusive. In the face of forces aiming to roll back the clock on these gains, we need to stand together and remember – none of us are free until all of us are free.
