The guide notes the wide swing between the Atlantic Provinces — women’s income in PEI was 82 per cent of men’s income. In Nova Scotia, women earned, on average, 78 per cent of what men earned.
In New Brunswick, women earned 77 per cent of men’s earnings.
Atlantic ministers responsible for the Status of Women met in New Brunswick this week and launched the Guide to Gender Diversity in Employment.
The guide notes the benefits of increasing gender diversity in the workplace include filling skill shortages, reducing turnover and improving the economic advancement of women.
It encourages businesses to examine how their human resources stack up when comes to gender balance, develop an action plan and to set short- and long-term goals. A HR checklist is provided.
The guide suggests to businesses some recommendations to balance the demands of workplace and family.
They include flex hours, a compressed work week, work at home and childcare facilities on site.
Among the barriers that exist for women, according to the guide:
• Lack of leadership and commitment from top executives to
advance women within organizations.
• Sometimes men find it difficult to mentor women. “This may be because they feel they share fewer common interests or they fear forming a close relationship which could be perceived as inappropriate. For these reasons and others, men tend to mentor other men,” the guide says.
• Mindsets can impede women’s advancement “because, inadvertently, men are viewed as individuals but women are seen as representatives of their gender. This can lead to a mindset that if a women fails, it sets all women back,” the guide notes.
• Women face different character assumptions than men. “For example, a woman may be perceived as bossy, while a man is perceived as having good leadership skills. A woman may be seen as pushy, while a man is seen as persuasive,” the guide says.
To view the Guide to Gender Diversity in Employment, visit:
www2.gnb.ca/content/dam/gnb/Departments/eco-bce/WI-DQF/pdf/en/Gender%20Diversity%20doc.pdf
