“Is your job underpaid? Do it out of love for your community.”
For thousands of New Brunswick women, this phrase is anything but romantic: it reflects a deeply unfair expectation.
In the care and community sectors, it is still assumed that love for the job will make up for what the pay doesn't cover. Caregivers, community workers, social workers: their work is essential, yet it remains underfunded and underpaid.
This is no coincidence. This inequity stems from a longstanding undervaluation of women's work, based on their dedication, devotion, and goodwill. Long perceived as “natural” and voluntary, this work remains too often invisible.
However, loving one's job has never been used to justify underpaying IT technicians, airline pilots, and engineers. Would we expect passion to replace fair compensation from these professions?
This Valentine's Day, let's remember: love for a job doesn't pay the bills.
That is why the government's promise to adopt pay equity legislation for the private sector is an important opportunity. Pay equity means equal pay for work of equal value, based on skills, responsibilities, effort, and working conditions… not gender stereotypes.
But legislation alone is not enough. Without financial commitment, pay equity cannot be implemented in the care and community sectors. We cannot keep filling the gaps in the system with women's goodwill.
This Valentine's Day, let's stop compensating these essential jobs with love. Instead, let's invest in paying them fairly!
Cecilia Pérez Plancarte
Community Development Coordinator
NB Coalition for Pay Equity