As the world celebrates International Women’s Day on March 8, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce released dismal news for women in Canada: they are less likely to be managers than women in almost of all the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.
If the pace of women being promoted into management continues as it is, the Chamber reported, Canada won’t reach gender parity until 2129. Sitting at 16th in a list of 37, Canada falls behind the U.S. (4th), Mexico (7th), Ireland and France (9th, 10th).
Dr. Samantha Dodson, Research Fellow at the Montalbano Centre for Responsible Leadership Development in the Sauder School of Business at U.B.C., said that the numbers could be attributed in part to Canada’s relatively strict pandemic lockdown rules, which might have led to more women leaving their jobs and then not returning.