Is there such thing as employment and pay equity for the less educated in Québec?

In this paper I will show two things: first, that the labour market is still very divided with respect to gender and, second, that the material impact of this division differs sharply by level of education; among occupations that require the least education, women pay a very high price for this gender-based division of employment. In contrast with occupations where more education is needed, those requiring the least education show a huge difference in wages according to whether they are predominantly male or predominantly female. This difference is a widespread phenomenon that favours so-called male occupations. The corresponding pay gap, in favour of men, in occupations requiring a high school diploma (Secondary 5 in Quebec) or less, is shrinking only slightly, whereas the gaps between men and women in occupations requiring more education are clearly closing. Given that pay is not the only factor in determining the quality of a job, nor even the only criterion job seekers base their decisions on, the Institut de la statistique du Québec (ISQ) has developed a typology of job quality that has the advantage of allowing comparisons of all salaried or wage-earning jobs (self-employed workers are excluded) in a given economic territory, between them and over time, as well as comparisons of groups of workers having specific characteristics (sex, age, union status, ethnic origin). In short, the ISQ’s job quality typology indicates a gap to the detriment of women in good-quality jobs, although the gap narrowed between 1997 and 2007. A breakdown of the men’s and women’s groups by level of education (highest diploma/degree earned) shows that the gap really affects the women in the least-educated group. The article then demonstrates that three often mentioned options for action, at present, offer little hope to counter that particular phenomenon: Quebec’s Pay equity act application, collective bargaining and internal promotion. Yet, this problem still affects approximately 500,000 women, after 25 years of equal access programs and close to 15 years of implementation of the Pay Equity Act. Employment equity programs are the most promising initiatives, given that they find their way into the affected employment sectors.