workingwomenworkingpoor_letter_web

SECTION1Introduction1.1 IntroductionThis publication is the result of a participatory research project motivated by theneed to focus attention on the lives of the diverse working women in the GreaterToronto Area (GTA). Today the GTA is becoming a low-wage economy, with extensiveloss of good unionized jobs and growing poverty which is increasingly feminized,racialized and includes high numbers of newerimmigrants. The objective of the researchwas to highlight the lives of the working — i.e. waged women in the GTA in their ownvoices. Women’s lives as waged workers are quite different than those of men workersdue to their multiple responsibilities in the home and in their communities.Specifically, the participatory research objectives were to: i) Make visible the livedexperiences of diverse women workers who have been affected by job losses; ii) Explorewhat is happening with women workers in unions; and iii) Explore the impact ofthe loss of union jobs on women workers as a result of the last recession.The women who participated in the research were from a wide range of unions,occupations, professions and workplaces. They were also unemployed and precariouslyemployed. Women belonged to unions, used to belong to unions until they got laidoff,and some did not belong to unions at all. The majority of the younger womeninterviewed were students and also working part-time. The research was conductedbetween May 2013 and January 2014. The final Section, ‘How we did the research’explains the research methods and process.The information below describes the women we spoke with.THE WOMEN WHOPARTICIPATED IN THERESEARCHThe total number of womeninvolved in the research44The number of womenwho participated in FocusDiscussion Groups (FDGs)27Women interviewedas Key Informants17TABLE 1 WOMEN IN THE RESEARCH26 (59%) Racialized (Canadian born) & Immigrant18 (41%) Non-racialized (Canadian born) & immigrant39 (88.63%) Union (including women laid-off from union jobs)5 (11.36%) Non-union11 (25%) Public Sector30 (68.18%) Private Sector2 (4.54%) Broader Public SectorIt is difficult to give the precise numbers of women for each sector of the economydue to the involvement of a significant number of women in part-time and precariouswork. This means that a woman could be working in both the public and privatesector and in more than one occupational category simultaneously. For example, shecould be working as a unionized Personal Support Worker (PSW) in a hospital; thus,in the public sector, and also be working part-time in a hotel in the private sector. Or,she could have two part-time union jobs in two totally different public sector services.WORKING WOMEN, WORKING POOR 5