Pay Equity for Midwives

Pay equity is a fundamental human right guaranteed by the Human Rights Code and the Pay Equity Act. As an almost exclusively female profession providing women- and trans-centered health care, midwives have experienced a gender penalty in their pay for more than two decades. In 2013, the AOM filed an application with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO), claiming the province has continually and systematically set a discriminatory compensation structure for midwives. 

In June 2017, hearings at the Tribunal were brought to a close and an interim decision (PDF, 364 KB) was delivered to the AOM by the HRTO on September 24, 2018, with a remedy decision (PDF, 612 KB) issued on February 19, 2020. In this landmark legal decision, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario has ordered the Ford government to take concrete actions to end the gender pay gap midwives experience as a result of the Ministry of Health’s discriminatory actions. The Ontario government filed for a judicial review of the HRTO ruling, which was heard in Divisional Court in April 2020. In June 2020, the Divisional Court ruled unanimously to uphold the decision of the HRTO in a carefully reasoned 59 page judgement (PDF, 755 KB). This historic win sets a precedent to change compensation practices not only for midwives, but for all workers in gendered professions. 

The Ontario government and the AOM are working collaboratively through the court-mandated facilitated process of implementing the upheld HRTO remedy orders. In the meanwhile, the Ontario government has again sought and been granted leave to appeal the decision at the Ontario Court of Appeal, calling on Ontario midwives to continue to fight to have their work valued fairly and free from a gender penalty. Hearing dates for the appeal have not yet been set.

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Media Contact

Juana Berinstein
Director, Policy & Communications
Association of Ontario Midwives
Phone: 416-425-9974 x 2229
Mobile: 416-371-1468
juana.berinstein@aom.on.ca