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PETITION

To the Government of Ontario:

Women in Ontario, on average, still earn 29% less than men.

Pay equity is the law in Ontario. But the law needs to be enforced. Pay discrimination must be ended.

I call upon the Ontario government take all necessary action to support, strengthen and revitalize pay equity to close the gender pay gap. This includes:

1. Increasing the minimum wage to $10 per hour effective 1 January 2008.

2. Fully funding the pay equity adjustments that are owing to women working in the broader public sector across Ontario.

3. Fully funding the Pay Equity Commission and Pay Equity Hearings Tribunal so that the Pay Equity Act can be vigilantly enforced.

The wage gap affects women in all ages, all races, all education levels, all occupations, and across all demographics. It affects women in all parts of the province, regardless of where they work in the economy, the size of their workplace or the precariousness of their work.

The wage gap affects girls and women at all stages of their lives – from their first job and on into retirement:

• Young women graduating from high school earn 27% less than male graduates.
• Young women graduating from university earn 16% less than male graduates. And this wage gap widens as their careers progress. For every age group, the wage gap for women with a university degree has widened in the past decade.
• The wage gap is even larger racial minority women, aboriginal women and women with disabilities.
• Racial minority women earn on average 36% less than men.
• Aboriginal women, on average, earn 54% less than men.
• Women with disabilities earn significantly less than both women and men without disabilities.

Two-thirds of workers earning minimum wage are women. Women are twice as likely to earn minimum wage as men. A single person working full-time needs an hourly wage of $10 just to reach the poverty line. 37% of single mothers with paid employment are raising a family on less than $10/hour.

I call upon you to take action now.

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