Since the introduction of the Employment Equity Act in 1986, organizations in Canada's federal jurisdiction have been required to adopt Employment Equity Programs (EEPs) designed to increase the presence of four traditionally under-represented groups: women, aboriginal peoples, disabled persons, and visible minorities. This dissertation reports the results of a study that identifies the type of EEPs organizations subject to the Act have adopted, examines the impact that EEPs have had on hiring and promotion, and identifies what makes an EEP effective. Results suggest that organizations that adopt EEPs that are more formalized, more comprehensive, and better supported are more likely to hire and promote a representative number of designated group members (especially non-minority women and members of visible minorities). Implications for practitioners and policy makers are discussed.

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This thesis presents research conducted on work, income, and educational characteristics of disabled people in Canada. This research is specifically concerned with the comparison of gender inequality between the disabled population and the non-disabled population. The research question is 'what is the consequence of disability on gender inequality?'. Using survey data from the 1986 Health and Activity Limitations Survey (HALS) a series of statistical comparisons where made between the non-disabled and disabled populations across a wide range of social and economic characteristics. The statistical research presented includes both cross tabulations and regression analyses. The research concludes that the extent of gender inequality - 'the gender gap' - is comparable between the non-disabled and disabled populations. The stigma of disability does not appear to either diminish nor exacerbate gender inequality in paid work. / Arts, Faculty of / Sociology, Department of / Graduate

This study seeks to explain the observed differences in the earnings of individual Canadians by sex. The study uses data from the micro data file of the 1986 Survey of Consumer Finances of individuals age 15 and over, with and without income. To a large extent, the study follows the examples presented in other Canadian studies conducted by Holmes (1974), Robb (1978), Gunderson (1980), Goyder (1981) and Ornstein (1983). Employment earnings account for an overwhelming proportion of the total income received by individuals. Thus, the examination of the earnings differential attempts to address the root causes of many of the problems faced by nontraditional families. Canadian society is no longer largely composed of the traditional family with a working father and the homemaking mother. The growing number of dual-earner couples, single and childless adults, and households headed by women presents a difficult challenge for social policy. The male-female earnings disparity is a key component in exacerbating problems that include the availability of credit for women, the feminization of poverty, access to affordable and adequate housing, and adequate incomes for retirement. To effectively address the problems that have resulted from the interaction of greater female participation in the labour force and the formation of alternate household types, planners and policy makers need to address the root problem of sexual inequality in the labour force, and not solely the symptoms. In the context of changing family structure and the economic position of women, the focus of this study is to identify the size of the male-female earnings gap, and to determine the extent to which the earnings gap can be explained by personal, work and productivity-related characteristics. The impact of these factors are analyzed from two points of view. First, the impact of individual factors on the level of earnings are analyzed through a simple comparison of mean earnings of men and women across a variety of characteristics. Second, the influence of these factors on earnings, and the degree of inequality between the earnings of men and women, is analyzed using multiple linear regression analysis. Regression analysis is used to estimate separate earnings equations for men and women. From the separate earnings equations, the wage gap can be partitioned into three parts, due to differences in (1) constant terms, (2) mean levels of the independent variables, and (3) the returns of the independent variables. Further, to assess the impact of occupational and industrial segregation on the earnings gap, a second set of earnings equations are calculated that do not include measures of occupational and industrial segregation. The calculations of separate earnings equations for men and women, for the selected sample, produced an unadjusted earnings ratio of 0.66. After adjustments were made for the ten productivity and productivity-related factors considered in the analysis, including occupational and industrial distributions, the ratio increased to 0.79. This left an earnings gap of $5,985 (1985 dollars) that could not be assigned to any of the measured variables. While part of the unexplained residual may be explained by variables not included in the analysis, or by more careful measurement of existing variables, it seems likely that at least 20 percentage points of the earnings gap is attributable to "an amalgam of different forms of discrimination which, taken together, disadvantage women relative to men", (Denton and Hunter, 1982). Discrimination is defined as different returns in earnings for equal productivity characteristics, as given by the regression coefficients. Of the total earnings gap of 34 percent, approximately 60% of this is attributable to wage discrimination, and approximately 40% is due to differences in productivity-related characteristics Occupational and industrial segregation account for a large proportion of the earnings gap. The adjusted earnings ratio, when occupational and industrial segregation are not considered endowments, is 0.69. Thus, the difference between the full-regression equation and the partial regression equation indicates that occupational and industrial segregation accounts for approximately 30% of the earnings gap. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

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This thesis analyses the relation between the phenomenon of job scarcity and discrimination against women in the labour market. Job scarcity, that is the inadequate quantity of available jobs relative to the number of persons able to hold them, which is a chronic problem, has played an important role in the development of discrimination. The hypothesis of the thesis is that a positive relation exists between discrimination against women and job scarcity: as employment opportunities deteriorate discrimination intensifies. / The thesis verifies the discriminatory effects of job scarcity by examining the process of job allocation in the economy. An historical study covering the end of the last century to the crisis of the 1930's is the vehicle used to examine the employment rationing mechanisms that consolidated discriminatory practices.

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