More Canadian men than woman think gender inequality overhyped: survey

A new survey suggests Canadian men are almost twice as likely as women to think gender inequality is being “blown way out of proportion.”

Leger polled more than 3,000 Canadians online in October on the topic on behalf of the Association for Canadian Studies and the University of Manitoba.

It found that most people believe the issue of gender inequality is important, but a significant minority believe it is overblown.

More than 30 per cent of men and 17 per cent of women who answered the survey believe the response to gender inequality is blown out of proportion.

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The survey suggests men between 30 and 34 are the most likely age group to believe gender inequality is overhyped, at 34.6 per cent, compared to 14.3 per cent of women that age.

Jack Jedwab, president of the Association for Canadian Studies, says evidence suggesting that women are economically disadvantaged is out there, pointing to Statistics Canada’s findings that women earned 11.1 per cent less than their male counterparts per hour.

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Statistics Canada says the wage gap persists between men and women with similar jobs, and is widest for those who work in front-line public protection services and paraprofessional occupations, where women earn an average of $0.64 for every dollar men make per hour.

“We need to do better work educating Canadians about this phenomenon,” Jedwab said by phone from Vancouver. “Not just on one or two days a year when it’s International Women’s Day.”