Social inequality refers to the case whereby there are unequal rewards and chances for numerous social status or positions in a community or group. It consists of recurrent and structured patterns of distribution of wealth, punishments, opportunities, and goods in an unequal manner. The main form of economic inequalities includes income inequality, wealth inequality and pay inequality.

The leading form of inequality in Canada is pay inequality. The proposed topic that will be discussed is with respect to the income and gender disparity as social inequality.

Wage and Gender Gap – Social Inequality

In most countries, men are paid higher salaries than their female counterparts who are doing a similar job and with the same experiences at their workplaces (Brown & Troutt, 2017). This has further resulted in gender dispersity and discrimination against women in the workplace. Therefore, making efforts to promote equality and inclusion becoming increasingly difficult (Fuller, 2018). The pay gap between different genders is wide even for the educated women who have graduated (Waite, 2017). The females in Canada are paid less salary compared to their male colleagues right after graduation getting their first jobs; this disparity becomes worse as they progress into their careers (Antonie et al., 2020).

Javdani and McGee

According to Javdani and McGee (2019), Canada is increasingly closing the gap that exists between gender pay. The financial change data further suggests that the share of Canada’s national income by women has increased from 25% to 42% since the year 1976 (Javdani & McGee, 2019). The pay gap between different genders affects even academic institutions. Whereby data from Alberta University indicates that the average pay of a female member of a faculty is about $19,000 less compared to that of a male colleague (Al-Zyoud et al., 2018).

According to Fortin (2019), the wage pay gap based on gender is among the physicians and healthcare professionals in Canada. Data shows that the female physicians in  Canada only account for 8% of the highest billing physicians in Ontario despite the increased number of practicing female physicians (Millar & Barker, 2020).

Millar, P. E., & Barker, J. (2020). Gender and academic promotion to full professor in Ontario.

Canadian Journal of Sociology, 45(1), 47-70. https://doi.org/10.29173/cjs29365. According to the study by Millar and Barker (2020), there is little research that has been conducted in Canada to assess the pay gap that exists between different genders in the academic field. Additionally, the study aims to examine the gender and the promotions in the academic areas to a full professor position in Ontario, Canada. It uses data from government sources, personal websites of professors, university websites, and Google Scholar to access the data on the appropriate pay levels for different professors.

Furthermore, the study used a comparative analysis methodology to compare and analyze the data. The study also discovered a wide gender gap that exists in academic advancements preferring males. The article helps explain the existing gender gaps in the field academically based on promotions that result in increased pay.

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