Equal Pay Day VIRTUAL Rally

April 4, 2020 at 1 p.m. EDT

Ontario Equal Pay Coalition says without women’s work, our communities don’t function.

TORONTO, April 03, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The #COVID19 pandemic proves women work 24/7 in female-dominated jobs on the front line – nursing, care work, cleaning, food prep, grocery and drug stores and online retail sales – responding to community needs. But the pandemic shows the cracks in our social safety net. Women face higher unemployment. Women, who make up the majority of minimum wage earners, are at a greater risk of losing their housing. With isolation, women face an increased risk of domestic violence.

This year for Equal Pay Day women from across Canada will rally for economic justice at a unique virtual rally. Women will come together through a special videoconference to call on all governments in Canada to take bold, concrete action to lessen the impact of COVID-19 on women. To date, no funding has been announced to specifically address the gendered impacts of this pandemic on Indigenous women such as lacking access to clean water, housing and health care.

“The virus doesn’t discriminate, but discrimination in our social structures puts women at greater risk,” says Fay Faraday, Co-Chair of the Ontario Equal Pay Coalition. “The value of women’s work has never been more visible. It’s time to show us the money. All COVID responses must address the unique risks women face. We can’t go back to the old normal. After COVID-19, the new normal must close the gender pay gap.”

Equal Pay Day draws attention to the gender pay gap – how much women’s work is undervalued and underpaid relative to men’s, says Jan Borowy, Co-Chair of the Ontario Equal Pay Coalition. Equal Pay Day is marked this year on April 4 because women, on average, need to work more than 15 months – 3.5 months into the new year – to earn what a man does in 12 months.

The Equal Pay Day Virtual rally brings together advocates from community organizations and trade unions who are on the front-line of the Covid-19 pandemic impact and fighting for women’s equality.

Speakers at 1 p.m. include:

Marie-Clarke Walker, Secretary-Treasurer, Canadian Labour Congress
Patty Coates,              President, Ontario Federation of Labour
Diana Day,                  Lead Matriarch, Pacific Association of First Nation’s Women, B.C.
Aja Mason,                  Yukon Status of Women
Pam Frache,               $15andFairness, Ontario
Andrea Sobko,            Ontario Nurses Association
Pam Parks,                 CUPE Ontario, Local 6364
Debra DeAngelis,        United Food and Commercial Workers
Carolyn Ferns,            Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care
Johanne Perron,         New Brunswick Pay Equity Coalition

For more information, please contact: Fay Faraday, Co-Chair, Equal Pay Coalition at 416-389-4399 or
Jan Borowy, Co-Chair, Equal Pay Coalition at 416-985-2069, or info@equalpaycoalition.org

#EqualPayDay
#Covid19
#IndigenousWomenRising
#EqualPay

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Equal Pay Day VIRTUAL Rally

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