Fact Sheet: #Midwives4PayEquity

What do midwives do?

  • Ontario midwives are primary health-care providers who are specialists in providing around-the-clock, on-call care for clients throughout normal pregnancy, birth and the first six weeks after birth.
  • Midwives are an integral and integrated part of Ontario’s health-care system and produce excellent health outcomes, high levels of patient satisfaction and utilize health-care resources efficiently.

What is pay equity?

  • Pay equity is fair compensation free from discrimination. 
  • Pay equity is a human right.
  • The pay equity gap in Canada ranges from about 26-30% (Equal Pay Coalition, Stats Can data) on average. The pay equity gap for Ontario's most female-dominated profession, midwifery, is at least 48% (Durber report).
  • In 2013, midwives filed an application with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario alleging they have faced a gender penalty in their pay from the Ontario government for almost two decades.

Why fight for pay equity?

  • Midwives working in the province of Ontario are perfectly situated to take on the pay equity fight. With the largest membership in Canada and a strong history of social activism, they are fighting for all female-dominated professions.
  • Midwives around the world are undervalued and underpaid, according to a World Health Organization study (2016).
  • It will be a landmark decision and a precedent-setting case that may change how workers in female-dominated professions in Canada are compensated.

Download a copy of the Midwives 4 Pay Equity fact sheet (PDF, 1.3 MB)


Midwives 4 Pay Equity fact sheet