When you work in a Canadian trade mark office, you don't often think about equal pay for women because it is guaranteed by your country's laws. However, in many other parts of the world women do not have the luxury of taking this fact for granted. Where the ING Vysya Foundation works in India, many women struggle to earn enough under unequal pay to feed their families. This article will help you understand the issue of unequal pay between the sexes and what you can do about it.

The basis of the issue is equal pay for equal work, regardless of whether an employee is male or female. If a man is paid more for programming a dental website than a woman who works for the same company, that's a violation of equal pay laws. Equal pay only counts when the two employees are working for the same company, as market fluctuations mean that not all employers offer the same wage levels. The law only comes into effect where similar skills, levels of responsibility, and work environment are present.

In Canada, pay equality is not the same thing as pay equity, which is another thing guaranteed to workers in most jurisdictions. With pay equity, jobs that are predominantly held by women which are equal in importance to jobs that are predominantly held by men must be paid the same. Thus if the ladies down in human resources are equal in value to the men in the information technology department, their dealership marketing firm must pay them equally. In the USA, this is known as comparable worth.

The issue of equal pay for women came to the forefront in the developed democratic countries in the 1960s and 1970s. A series of strikes and work stoppages over this issue resulted in laws being passed to eliminate workplace pay discrimination. The Equal Pay Act in the United States was passes in 1963, in the United Kingdom in 1970, in Ireland in 1974, and in Australia in 1984. A mortgage broker in Burlington is prevented from discrimination in Canada by the Human Rights Act.

Though the battle has been won in these countries, there are many that still need help getting there. As a fashion photographer in Ottawa, you can raise awareness of the plight of working women in other countries through photos, articles, blogs, and fundraising. You can also help work with women and legislators in other countries to help them arrive at a peaceful solution that is fair for everyone.