Gender Equality Week: Honouring & continuing the fight for workplace equality

Gender Equality Week, starting this Sunday (September 20), is an opportunity to recognize the progress we’ve made, celebrate the women, gender diverse folks, and allies who fought for that progress, and renew our commitment to the work that remains.

As a union, we know that gender equality is not simply an aspiration, it is something workers can achieve through collective action, solidarity, bargaining, and political advocacy. Our history proves what collective action can achieve — and our future depends on continuing that fight together.

The PSAC has a proud history of advancing gender equality. From the groundbreaking 1980 strike by predominantly women workers, to PSAC’s landmark 1999 pay-equity victory, our union has demonstrated the power of organized women and gender diverse activists to challenge systemic inequality. PSAC members have also fought for and won groundbreaking protections and benefits, including paid maternity and parental leave, same-sex spousal benefits, increased coverage for gender-affirming care, protections against sexual harassment, domestic-violence leave, and stronger workplace protections for women, gender diverse folks, and other equity-deserving workers. Within PSAC, gender-neutral language has also been implemented in agreements.

These achievements remind us that equality is won when workers organize and refuse to accept discrimination. Unfortunately, our work is far from finished. Women and gender diverse workers continue to face pay inequity, harassment, gender-based violence, barriers to leadership and unequal caregiving responsibilities. And, these challenges are often intensified for Indigenous, Black and racialized women, women with disabilities, 2SLGBTQIA+ people, and other marginalized communities.

During Gender Equality Week, let us honour the generations of union women and gender diverse members who fought for change and commit ourselves to carrying that work forward. We must continue building workplaces where everyone can work safely, earn fairly, lead confidently, and live with dignity.

In solidarity,