Report Reveals Women’s Economic Status

Twenty-five years ago, the Nova Scotia Task Force on the Status of Women set in motion governmental commitment to women’s equality with the release of the publication titled Herself.

To mark this historic occasion and to celebrate International Women’s Day, the Nova Scotia Advisory Council on the Status of Women released a report today which focuses on the economic status of women in Nova Scotia.

The report, entitled Money Matters: Women in Nova Scotia, updates available income statistics.

Key findings in the report are:

• Women’s labour-force participation has increased dramatically in recent years, doubling between 1961 and 1996. Women in Nova Scotia are now almost as likely as men to have paid work, with women making up 47.1 per cent of Nova Scotia’s labour force.

• Women in Nova Scotia are making enormous contributions to the financial well-being of their families. In 1997, women (including those without paid work) made up 30 per cent of family income in husband-wife families. Without the wife’s income, twice as many husband-wife families in Nova Scotia would have fallen below the Low-Income Cut-Offs in 1997.

• Though there is still a significant difference in the earnings of women and men in Nova Scotia, the gender wage gap is slowly starting to narrow. The female-to-male earnings ratio was 64 per cent in the 1970s and 71 per cent in 1997.

• Single women in the paid labour force are earning as much as their male counterparts. Married women, on the other hand, have significantly lower earnings than married men.

The relationship between women’s paid work and the nature and extent of their family responsibilities is at the heart of women’s equality. This important relationship requires more careful research and analysis and will form a principal focus for the Advisory Council activities over the next few years.

"Women are progressing slowly, but surely, toward equality," said council chair Patricia Doyle-Bedwell. "The findings in this report will guide us, and government, in continuing to ensure women are key players in the economic development of this province."

Money Matters is the first in a series of five statistical reports. Future issues will include statistics on demography and family life, education, paid and unpaid work, and women’s health and well- being. The report is available on the Nova Scotia Advisory Council on the Status of Women Web site at www.gov.ns.ca/staw/ .