Image: Flickr (Trocaire)
Continuing our series in honour of International Women’s Day, Okanagan Edge presents the latest in a series of blogs examining the place of British Columbian women in the workplace.
Penned by authors at the Business Council of B.C., the six-part series explores issues such as the gender pay gap; women’s labour force participation; the link between education, child care, and missed opportunities; and women’s entrepreneurship and self-employment.
In their previous column, authors Denise Mullen and Kristine St-Laurent dug into labour force participation and why there’s been a stable gender gap since the early 1990s. In part three of the series, they explore why more women work in part-time positions, and what that means for gender equality in the workplace.
Part 3: The part-time difference
Image: Statistics Canada
BC Employment, 1976-2016, ages 15 and over, both sexes
Statistics Canada and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development both define part-time employment as less than 30 hours per week in a primary job. Part-time includes employer-employee positions as well as self-employment.
Among the member countries that belong to the OECD, the average incidence of part-time work for women aged 15 years and older was approximately 26 per cent in 2016, while among men the average was approximately 9 per cent.
In Nordic countries like Sweden, the gender gap was narrower: approximately 18 per cent of women held part-time employment compared to 10 per cent for men. In Canada, the share was about 26 per cent for women and 13 per cent for men.
Numbers in British Columbia generally align with the national data.
In 2016, 78 per cent of jobs in BC were full-time. Core working-age men between 25-54 years held 57 per cent of full-time positions, with women holding the other 43 per cent.
While a larger share of women work in full-time positions now than was the case in 1976, part-time employment is still dominated by women.
Reasons for Working Part-Time
Part-time work is common among women in the labour force, regardless of jurisdiction. Why do more women work part-time? For some, part-time may be a choice. But this is not the full story.
Statistics Canada tracked the main reasons women gave for choosing part-time work in 2016:
-Good news story: Consistent with education data, more women cite attendance at school as a reason for part-time employment;
-Time and time again, child care is cited as one of the main reasons for choosing part-time work. While rising numbers of men now claim this as a reason for working part-time, women continue to shoulder the larger share of household and family responsibilities.
While many women opt for part-time work for this reason, the data does not help us understand for whom this is a voluntary decision.
Does part-time work help meet the demands of parenting, or is there just no other option from the viewpoint of the affected workers (i.e. no child care availability in their areas, too costly to work full-time relative to earnings, etc.)?;
-The reality of family responsibilities (i.e. adult dependents, such as ageing parents) also puts downward pressure on women’s ability to work full-time. Of workers who gave this reason for taking part-time positions, 80 per cent were women;
-Like child care and family responsibilities, personal preference doesn’t help us understand if this reflects a true choice or instead is evidence of a lack of suitable employment or family support options. Two other reasons cited for choosing part-time in the Statistics Canada survey are illness and business conditions.
Image: Statistics Canada
Standing Still: The Part-Time Difference
To be sure, some women opt for part-time employment at certain stages of their lives. Such work is often more flexible and a woman can gain a level of control over her schedule that may not be feasible with full-time positions.
On the flipside, part-time work tends to be more precarious and is less likely to include employer-paid benefits. In addition, self-employed contract-to-contract work can result in unpredictable income flows.
Some individuals, including many women, who work part-time may find it hard to secure pathways to full-time work and career advancement—factors that are known to contribute to a persistent gender wage gap.
The Business Council of British Columbia aims to produce timely and exceptional public-policy research and advice on issues to enhance B.C.’s competitiveness and prosperity. As a collaborative, non-partisan organization, the council strives to be a venue where members, policy experts, elected officials, and government decision-makers can address problems and form solutions together.
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