New Brunswick joins in on global discussion for pay equity, abortion access for IWD

As women come together Wednesday to talk about the progress made over the last several decades and where things still need to go, those in New Brunswick are discussing what issues are still facing women in the province.

READ MORE: Saint John’s ‘Island Girls’ highlight business success on International Women’s Day

Barbara Byers with the Canadian Labour Congress said there are many issues facing women but there are three they’re focusing on for International Women’s Day.

They’re issues also prevalent in New Brunswick.

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Vallie Stearns-Anderson, chair of the New Brunswick Coalition for Pay Equity, said more work is needed on behalf of the government to solve the problem.

“Without legislation, we will not be able to achieve pay equity for work that is predominantly done by women,” Stearns-Anderson said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Without legislation, we will not be able to achieve pay equity for work that is predominantly done by women," Stearns-Anderson said.

She said that work includes the fields of child care, home support and community residences.

READ MORE: Public sector beats out private for gender gap: StatsCan

“It’s time we achieved fair wages so instead of minimum wage we could have $20 an hour which would be closer to pay equity for those kind of positions.”

However, pay equity isn’t the only issue facing New Brunswick women, according to Beth Lyons with the New Brunswick Women’s Council.

“Reproductive justice is one of them,” said Lyons, who is the council’s executive director. “We need still better access to surgical abortion … Having access to ultrasounds in a timely fashion is also an issue of reproductive justice.”

Finance Minister Cathy Rogers said she agrees there’s still progress to be made when it comes to pay equity and reproductive justice.

“Of course we need to still recognize the right of women and allow women to have access to opportunities to be able to make decisions for their own selves so there’s always going to be more we can do here,” Rogers said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Of course we need to still recognize the right of women and allow women to have access to opportunities to be able to make decisions for their own selves so there's always going to be more we can do here," Rogers said.

The Minister of Finance said she’d also like to see more women in CEO positions and in government – women make up 16 per cent of sitting MLAs in the provincial legislature as of 2017.