In May 2006, the Standing Committee on the Status of Women adopted a motion to undertake a study of the economic security of senior women. After hearing the testimonies from a number of witnesses it became clear that the study should widen its scope to take into account the origin of women’s poverty, including:

• women’s lower earnings;
• their family responsibilities;
• the changing structure of the paid workforce;
• and the fact that women, because of their greater life expectancy, will spend longer in old age, on average, than men will, and will likely be left on their own eventually.

Recognizing the need to take a life cycle approach to studying the economic security of senior women, it was apparent that the economic security of all women, with a particular focus on immigrant women, rural women, Aboriginal women, women with disabilities, senior women and single mothers, needed to be studied.

The Committee held 18 meetings with departmental officials, individuals, professional organizations, researchers, and groups representing the interests of various groups of women from across Canada. Among these witnesses included Sheila Regehr from the National Council of Welfare, Monica Townson from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Beverly Jacobs from the Native Women’s Association of Canada, as well as Anu Bose from the National Organization of Immigrant and Visible Minority Women, Monica Lysack from the Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada, and Campaign 2000.

In June 2007, the Committee’s report, Improving the Economic Security of Women: Time to Act was released. The report is divided into five main chapters, and offers recommendations which the Committee believes will better the economic realities of women. The report shows that there have been ‘improvements for low-income women in Canada in recent years,’ however also points out that there continues to be significant challenges in addressing the gender differences in low income rates among women.

Chapter 2, Women’s Economic Security: Vulnerable Groups, provides an overview of the economic realities of immigrant, rural, senior and Aboriginal women, as well as women with disabilities and single mothers. This chapter sheds light on the fact that close to one-fifth of immigrants who arrive in Canada face low income, a rate 2.5 times higher than for persons born in Canada. Women over 65 are still more likely than men the same age to have low incomes, and the poverty rate among single mothers under 65 years of age was 42.2% compared to just 19.3% for single fathers.

Chapter 3, Economic Security of Women – The Income Side, describes the rise of non-standard work and self-employment, as well as the impact of women’s unpaid work on their labour force participation and barriers to labour force participation, as key factors which help keep and make women vulnerable to poverty and low-income. Despite strong job creation and falling unemployment, more families in Canada are working, but not finding jobs with sufficient pay, hours or benefits to help them escape poverty. 22% of women are in low paid jobs and about one-third of women in the main childbearing years are working part-time because they can’t find full-time work.

Chapter 4, Economic Security of Women – The Cost Side, outlines the costs incurred by women that have an impact on their economic security, including food, housing, transportation costs and health care and medical costs, with special attention paid to the higher costs in remote and rural areas than in urban areas. The need for an accessible and affordable system of childcare, as well as better supports for women providing elder care was also described in this section. In Canada, about one million seniors receive formal and informal care for long-term physical needs. This care if usually provided by women and places heavy financial burdens on them. For example, between 40% and 50% of women caregivers make out-of-pocket expenditures that they would not have made otherwise if they hadn’t taken on care responsibilities.

Chapter 5, What the Committee Heard about Government Programs and Tax Measures, describes the differential effects that the Employment Insurance, Old Age Security and Guaranteed Income Supplement and Canada Pension Plan systems have on women. Tax measures, including income splitting is also discussed, as in proposed reforms to these system which will be of benefit to women. Currently, women overall have lower access to employment benefits than do men, largely because of the non-standard jobs that they occupy. Additionally, employment insurance and maternity and parental benefits are least accessible to those mothers who need them most. Also problematic, is that despite the growing number of self-employed women, they can neither contribute to EI nor draw benefits, which only serves to weaken their economic security.

Chapter 6, Other Issues Emerging from Testimony, looks at the need for access to financial and entrepreneurial literacy training, as well as the need to monitor progress of specific areas related to women’s economic security. The need for national initiatives and strategies like a national childcare program and a national initiative to support seniors was also raised.

List of Recommendations put forth by the Standing Committee on the Status of Women:

Recommendation 1:
The Committee recommends that the federal government reinstate the federal minimum wage and that it be set initially at $10 an hour.

Recommendation 2:
The Committee recommends that the federal government play a leadership role in improving labour legislation to extend a greater protection to the growing segment of non-standard workers, and that it ensure that the working conditions of non-standard workers are placed on the agenda of future meetings of federal/provincial/territorial Ministers of Labour.

Recommendation 3:
The Committee recommends that Industry Canada, in cooperation with other relevant departments, take measures to ensure the availability of micro-credit opportunities to women in rural and remote regions, including Métis, First Nations, and Inuit women.

Recommendation 4:
The Committee recommends that Industry Canada establish a Centre of Excellence for Women Entrepreneurs to support women entrepreneurs, notably by providing additional financial and entrepreneurial education programs.

Recommendation 5:
The Committee recommends that the Department of Human Resources and Social Development expand the maternity and parental benefits program to cover two years, and increase the benefit rate to 60%, in order to help parents balance their paid and caring work.

Recommendation 6:
The Committee recommends that Citizenship and Immigration Canada, in consultation with provincial and territorial governments, expand eligibility to the Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) program to Canadian citizens who have immigrated to Canada, and to successful refugee claimants. The Committee also recommends that more support for child-minding services be made available to participants in the LINC program.

Recommendation 7:
The Committee recommends that the federal government explore and implement options that have been identified in past studies which would allow new immigrants to access financing to upgrade their skills, including in situations where their credentials are not recognized. This should be done in collaboration with provinces and territories where specific agreements exist, as well as other stakeholders.

Recommendation 8:
The Committee recommends that the Live-in Caregiver Program be reformed to ensure that the human rights of immigrant women workers are better protected and that the live-in requirements of the program become optional.

Recommendation 9:
The Committee recommends that additional funds be allocated to the Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabilities.

Recommendation 10:
The Committee recommends that the federal government, in collaboration with the provincial and territorial governments, develop a national housing strategy and ensure that there is adequate, affordable, appropriate and accessible housing for women.

Recommendation 11:
The Committee recommends that the federal government support the efforts of the provinces and territories to implement or maintain a universal and high quality system of early learning and child care that is that is developmental, affordable and accessible.

Recommendation 12:
The Committee recommends that the Department of Human Resources and Social Development Canada improve the Compassionate Care Benefits under the Employment Insurance program, by increasing the maximum number of weeks and by amending the eligibility criteria to make the benefit more widely available to persons caring for sick or elderly relatives or friends.

Recommendation 13:
The Committee recommends that the federal government change the eligibility criteria under the Employment Insurance Act to increase access to benefits to persons in part-time or part-year work.

Recommendation 14:
The Committee recommends that the federal government extend eligibility for maternity and parental benefits by changing qualifying requirements to allow parents to reach back over the three-to five-year period prior to the birth of the child.

Recommendation 15:
The Committee recommends that the federal government amend the Employment Insurance Act to allow self-employed persons to opt into the special benefits programs under the Employment Insurance (EI) program, such as maternity and parental benefits and the Compassionate Care Benefit.

Recommendation 16:
The Committee recommends that the federal government increase the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) so that total Old Age Security and Guaranteed Income Supplement provides an after tax income above the poverty line.

Recommendation 17:
The Committee recommends that the federal government develop a drop-out provision in the Canada Pension Plan, similar to the existing drop-out provision for childcare, for people who are caring for individuals with disabilities or the elderly.

Recommendation 18:
That the federal government develop options, in consultation with Canadians, on how the Canada Pension Plan could be amended to allow individuals to choose to increase their contributions to the maximum CPP amounts, or to participate in the CPP if they are currently outside the labour market.

Recommendation 19:
The Committee recommends that the CPP survivor benefits for seniors aged 65 or more be increased from up to 60% of the contributor’s retirement pension to 70%.

Recommendation 20:
The Committee recommends that the federal government increase the number of countries with which it has social security agreements in order to provide pension coverage to a larger proportion of new immigrant Canadians.

Recommendation 21:
The Committee recommends that, in collaboration with the provinces and territories, the federal government develop a national poverty reduction strategy that incorporates gender based awareness with concrete targets and goals to address poverty and Aboriginal poverty in Canada.

To read the complete report and its 21 recommendations, please visit:
Report