In the 1960s Unifor women were part of the struggle that brought an end to the employer’s legal right to discriminate based on sex. This battle, waged in Ontario, was one of many that feminists, women’s organizations, and ultimately unions took up right across the country. It was not the beginning of the fight for equality, and it was not the end.
Today women and men share full legal equality in Canada, and all Canadians believe that this is fair, and just. However, legal equality is not the same as social equality, economic equality or political equality –none of which have yet to be achieved. Inequality is made clear by on-going gender-based violence, low wages and economic opportunities for women, and the under-representation of women in Parliament and other positions of public influence and power, including union leadership. There’s no question gains have been made – and we’re proud to have contributed to these gains. But there is so much more to be done, and where we have made gains, far less progress has been made for women of colour, Aboriginal women, women with disabilities, lesbians, bisexual and trans women, and immigrant and refugee women.
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