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On Equal Pay Day, Unifor joined members of the Equal Pay Coalition to highlight the urgent need to close the gender pay gap, especially in the child care, eldercare and health care sectors which make up the care economy
Equal Pay Day marks how far into the year the average woman must work to earn what men did by the end of the previous year. This year’s Equal Pay Day, recognized on April 14, 2026 centred on the theme: Care Counts, because there is no functioning economy without the workers who provide care.
“In Ontario today, women are paid just 68 cents for every dollar a man makes. For Indigenous women, Black women, racialized women and women with disabilities, the gap shamefully remains even wider,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne.
“That gap follows you for life. Less money in your pocket. Less security in retirement. Fewer opportunities for your family. And right now, in the middle of economic volatility and rising costs the wage gap hurts even more.”
Wearing red to symbolize women being left in the red, Unifor members joined a rally in Toronto at 361 University Ave. at the Pillars of Justice.
“There is no economy without the care economy,” said Unifor Women’s Director Tracey Ramsey. “No workforce without child care. No nation-building without the women who hold it all together behind the scenes.”
The rally featured speakers from members of the Equal Pay Coalition, including labour unions, non-profit organizations, and child care advocates. Speakers urged the Ontario government to fully fund the province’s child care system and close the gender pay gap for child care workers.
“Child care is the backbone of our economy. Without the care of the workers, the economy doesn’t work,” said Fay Faraday, Co-Chair of the Equal Pay Coalition. “Ontario’s child care system remains too expensive for parents, and it vastly underpays child care workers, driving a staffing shortage in Ontario that causes waitlists to grow.”
The Coalition is calling on the Ontario government to introduce a real wage grid that values child care workers with wages between $35 and $45 per hour, with benefits and pensions.
Supporters can join the call for proper child care funding and fair wages at: equalpaycoalition.org/mobilize-your-mpps.
