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Families Count 2024
Vanier Institute’s new resource explores three decades of change, continuity, and complexity among families in Canada. Released during the International Year of the Family’s 30th anniversary, Families Count 2024 provides statistical portraits of families in Canada, highlights trends over time, and offers insights on what it all means for families and family life.
Chapter 15 – The gender gap in labour force participation is closing but at a slower pace
One major shift that has taken place over the past half-century in Canada is the rising labour market participation of women. In 1976, fewer than half of women aged 15 and older (45.7%) participated in the paid labour market.1 This has since grown to 61.6% in 2023, though much of this shift had occurred by 1990, when the labour force participation rate of women stood at 58.5%. In the decade between 2013 and 2023, the gap between men and women narrowed from 9.2 to 8.1 percentage points (a change of only 1.1 percentage points).
Women’s increasing participation in paid employment has been supported by changing social, cultural, and economic conditions. Another contributing factor is the introduction and gradual expansion of parental benefits, which have helped new mothers to stay in the workforce after childbirth. In past generations, many women would have exited the labour force at this time to become full-time homemakers.
Labour market activity varies by age, with a smaller gender gap among younger age groups who typically do not have caregiving or childcare responsibilities. In 2023, there was almost no gender gap (0.3 percentage points) in labour force participation rates of people aged 15 to 24, with women (65.1%) having a slightly higher rate than men (64.8%).1 Among the core working-age group of 25 to 54 years, the rate for women (85.5%) was 6.6 percentage points below that of men (92.1%). The biggest gap was between women (31.9%) and men (42.3%) aged 55 and older, at 10.4 percentage points.
These gaps were much larger in the 1970s. In 1976, there was a 10.7 percentage point gap between women (58.2%) and men (68.9%) aged 15 to 24.1 The largest was a gap of 42.2 percentage points between women (52.3%) and men (94.5%) aged 25 to 54. However, the 29.5 percentage point gap between women (17.7%) and men (47.2%) aged 55 and older was not far behind.
While these figures represent progress toward gender equality in labour force participation, it is important to note that the pace at which the gender gap in the labour force participation rate has been closing has slowed considerably since the early 2000s.
Why this matters
The growing participation of women in paid work has profoundly changed the economic status of women and the earning capacity of families. Women’s earnings have become integral to the economic security of most family households in Canada.
A gender gap remains, however, and there has been little change over the past decade. In addition, women’s increased labour force participation has not been reflected in an equivalent increase of men’s involvement in unpaid household work. This leaves women with a higher total work burden—that is, the average number of hours per day spent on paid and unpaid work combined. The most recent available data on the topic show that, among adults aged 25 to 54 in 2015, women spent an average 9.1 hours per day on paid and unpaid work, compared with 7.9 hours for men.2
References
- Statistics Canada. (2024, January 5). Table 14-10-0327-01 Labour force characteristics by sex and detailed age group, annual. https://doi.org/10.25318/1410032701-eng ↩︎
- Moyser, M., & Burlock, A. (2018, July 30). Time use: Total work burden, unpaid work, and leisure. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-503-x/2015001/article/54931-eng.htm ↩︎

Families Count 2024 is a publication of the Vanier Institute of the Family that provides accurate and timely information on families and family life in Canada. Written in plain language, it features chapters on diverse topics and trends that have shaped families in Canada. Its four sections (Family Structure, Family Work, Family Identity, and Family Wellbeing) are guided by the Family Diversities and Wellbeing Framework.
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How to cite this document:
Battams, N., & Mathieu, S. (2024). The gender gap in labour force participation is closing but at a slower pace. In Families count 2024, The Vanier Institute of the Family. https://vanierinstitute.ca/families-count-2024/the-gender-gap-in-labour-force-participation-is-closing-but-at-a-slower-pace