Gender Brief - Members of the OECD
This gender brief gives a detailed overview of gender differences in OECD countries on main employment and social issues - the Work-Life Harmony summary focuses on Canada's standing.
Category Diversity: Gender 
Details This gender brief gives a detailed overview of gender differences in OECD countries on main employment and social issues. Despite numerous improvements in women's employment outcomes, there are still many gender gaps that need to be addressed. On average, across OECD countries, the proportion of women in paid work is high (62%). However, women in OECD countries earn 18% less than men, only about one-third of managerial posts are held by a woman, many more women work in part-time jobs than men (25% and 6% respectively). These gender differences are even wider with the presence of children since women are more likely to adjust their employment practices upon the arrival of a child much more than men.

Key Findings (Canada unless otherwise noted):
  • the fertility rate has been falling since 1975 and by 2008 was well below replacement levels
  • women are postponing the birth of their first child - women in Canada are slightly older at 27.9 years than the OECD average of 27.8 years old at the first birth
  • English speaking countries present the highest proportion of children living with a sole parent - Canada ranks 3rd highest (below the U.S. and the U.K.) at approx 23%
  • 58% of women are in paid work in OECD countries - in Canada, the rate was approximately 70% in 2008
  • maternal employment rates are approx 60% for women with youngest child under 3 years of age, the difference in employment rates between women with children 3-5 and 6-15 is negligible (approx 69% and 70% respectively)
  • gender gap for FTE employment for women in Canada was approx 18% in 2008
  • gender wage gap for FTE was approx 21% - Canada ranked 4th behind Korea, Japan and Germany
  • across all OECD countries women are more likely to be poor than men - women aged 66-75 are 1.2 times more likely to be poor than the general population and 1.7 times by age 75
  • in all OECD countries women spend more time on unpaid care work than men - in Canada women spend on average approx 9% of their time (with 2 children under school age) on unpaid work
  • in Canada men spend almost as much time as women on unpaid work with an average of approx 7% (with 2 children under school age)
  • Canadian men spend approx 25 minutes per day more than women on leisure activities
  • in 2005, the OECD average for public spending on family benefits was 2.3% of GDP - Canada was well below that level at 1.1%
  • public spending on childcare and pre-school services in OECD countries was on average .6% of GDP - it was lowest in Canada (at approx .15%), Greece and Korea
  • across OECD countries 30% of children under the age of 3 were enrolled in childcare facilities - in Canada approx 23% were enrolled
  • Canada lagging behind in enrollment rates for pre-school educational programs for 3-5 year olds at approx 58%
  • childcare costs on average in OECD countries is 13% of family net income - in Canada it is 22% of family net income
  • on average, OECD countries provide 18 weeks of maternity leave of which 13 are paid at 100% of last earnings - Canada currently offers a combined benefit of 50 weeks maternity and parental leave
  • including public holidays, OECD countries typically provide 30-35 days of paid annual leave - Canada offers 20 days (the U.S. is the only country where a statutory minimum of annual paid leave for those in employment does not exist at the federal level)
  • The large majority of OECD countries, including Canada, provide additional entitlements towards leave to care for sick children or dependent relatives
  • Sweden, Finland, Austria, Germany and Denmark are the countries with the highest proportion of firms providing flexibility in working time arrangements1. The percentage of companies providing flexi-time is also relatively large in Ireland and the United Kingdom, but in these countries flexibility is often limited to varying working hours without the possibility to convert accumulated hours in holidays. In Greece and Portugal employers are the least inclined to allow flexibility of working hours - there are no stats presented for Canada
Author Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development - Social Policy Division
Publication Date March 2010 
Source www.oecd.org 
Format PDF 
Availability Download report: Gender Brief - OECD Members