Article content

OTTAWA — Motherhood and the societal expectations that come with it are major factors in Canada’s wage gap between men and women, concludes an internal government analysis that suggests Ottawa should take this into account when it thinks up new ways to address the problem.

“Since gendered expectations and social norms are clearly important factors in the gender wage gap, closing the gender gap will require broad societal changes,” says the Aug. 28 briefing note prepared for Paul Rochon, the deputy minister of finance.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Motherhood, social norms behind gender wage gap in Canada: Finance Canada docs Back to video

The memo given to the most senior permanent official at the federal Department of Finance outlines several reasons why progress on closing the gap between men and women when it comes to participating in the workforce, and the money that comes with it, has largely stalled since the 1990s.

According to Statistics Canada, female employees between the ages of 25 and 54 earned, on average, $0.87 for every dollar earned by their male counterparts last year, which is also one of the largest gaps among countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.