tag:theconversation.com,2011:/nz/topics/labour-day-91922/articlesLabour Day – The Conversation2022-05-01T08:42:09Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1815452022-05-01T08:42:09Z2022-05-01T08:42:09ZA gloomy May Day awaits Nigerian workers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458901/original/file-20220420-15105-ng3wci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Minimum wage is no match for rising cost of living</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Adekunle Ajayi/NurPhoto via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Imagine you live alone and walk into a local food market in Lagos, the Nigerian commercial capital, to buy a week’s worth of basic food items. In less than 15 minutes, you would find that you’ve spent at least 10,000 Naira (or US$24 at the official exchange rate of US$1 = 416 Naira).</p>
<p>This may seem minuscule to privileged households but such expenditure is a heavy burden on Nigeria’s <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.TLF.TOTL.IN?locations=NG">62 million workers</a>. </p>
<p>The majority of Nigerian workers have to make do with a monthly <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1119133/monthly-minimum-wage-in-nigeria/">minimum wage</a> of 30,000 Naira (US$72). Only <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/03/21/afw-deep-structural-reforms-guided-by-evidence-are-urgently-needed-to-lift-millions-of-nigerians-out-of-poverty">17 percent</a> of Nigerian workers hold jobs that pay enough to get them out of poverty.</p>
<p>After factoring in rent, transportation, medical expenses and electricity, among others, the average Nigerian worker can’t make ends meet. This has been made worse by the rising cost of living. For most Nigerians, the cost of living is about <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/nigeria">5.3 times more</a> than the average salary.</p>
<p><a href="https://guardian.ng/business-services/nlc-laments-rising-cost-of-goods-cautions-against-increase-in-fuel-price/">Soaring food prices</a> are the major cause. Nigeria’s <a href="https://nigerianstat.gov.ng/elibrary/read/1241157">inflation rate</a> was 15.9 percent in March, 2022, and food prices rose by 17.2 percent, among the <a href="https://www.fxempire.com/macro/nigeria/food-inflation">highest</a> in Africa.</p>
<p>Much of Nigeria’s inflation is due to <a href="https://nigerianstat.gov.ng/elibrary/read/1241146">increases</a> in the prices of basic food items like bread, cereals, potatoes, yam, fish, meat, oils and fats. Food prices contributed about <a href="https://uk.news.yahoo.com/high-nigeria-food-costs-push-110149878.html">60 percent</a> to Nigeria’s inflation in 2021.</p>
<p>Those prices have been increasing for several reasons, including insecurity in the country’s food-producing areas, poor transportation and storage facilities, <a href="https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/389281623682704986/pdf/Resilience-through-Reforms.pdf#page=22">removal</a> of some food items from the list of imports eligible for foreign exchange through the Central Bank of Nigeria’s official windows, <a href="https://punchng.com/experts-predict-further-depreciation-of-naira/">depreciation of the Naira</a>, which led to increases in the prices of imported food, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/nigeria-needs-a-competent-customs-and-immigration-service-not-border-closure-125836">border closures in 2019</a> that resulted in steep declines in food imports.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-60525350">war in Ukraine</a> has added further upward pressure on commodity and fuel prices. This will cause overall inflation and food prices to continue to increase well into 2023, a pointer that Nigerian workers are in for a very rough ride during the next several months.</p>
<p>The rising cost of living has left Nigerian workers with a stark choice. They either spend much of their income on food and forgo other essential needs, or drastically cutting back on food expenditures in order to afford essential services. This Hobbesian choice is worse for a one-income household with multiple people, where the minimum monthly wage has to be spread across members of the household. </p>
<p>It’s no wonder that Nigeria’s number of poor people is forecast to rise <a href="https://www.icirnigeria.org/number-of-poor-nigerians-to-increase-to-95-million-in-2022-report/">95 million</a> or about half the population in 2022.</p>
<p>Many of these poor Nigerians, including those in vulnerable employment, would see their living standards deteriorate precipitously. That’s because Nigerians spend <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/12/this-map-shows-how-much-each-country-spends-on-food/">the highest portion</a> of their income on food. An average Nigerian household spends about 56% of income on food. The other three high spenders on food are Kenya (46.7%), Cameroon (45.6%), and Algeria (42.5%).</p>
<p>To put things in context, in the US, UK, Canada and Australia average household expenditure on food accounts for 6.4%, 8.2%, 9.1%, and 9.8% of income respectively.</p>
<p>The more expensive food becomes, the poorer and more unhealthy Nigerians become. The fact that Nigerian workers have neither embarked on food riots, nor staged mass demonstrations to protest the unbearable increases in food prices, implies they must have found ways of coping with food inflation.</p>
<h2>Coping strategies</h2>
<p>To maintain a decent level of food consumption and avoid becoming one of the <a href="https://www.oxfam.org/en/nigeria-extreme-inequality-numbers">5 million</a> Nigerians that face hunger, households are reducing expenditures on essential services like health, electricity, and transportation. It has become customary for households to switch off electricity at night to reduce energy bills. Many now postpone or avoid unessential travels.</p>
<p>Workers are also doing additional work. These include operating Uber and other share riding cabs and trading in assorted goods. They are also offering services such as barbering, hair braiding, fashion design, tailoring, event planning, photography, commission sales, digital marketing, and exploring opportunities on the web. Some workers are even cutting back on time spent on their regular jobs to devote more time to other income generating activities.</p>
<p>In their attempts to cope with food inflation and rising cost of living, some Nigerian workers have fallen prey to predatory lenders, or what are widely known as “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/09/their-weapon-is-your-shame-toxic-abuse-from-nigerias-loan-sharks">loan sharks</a>”.</p>
<p>Cashing in on workers’ desperation, these lenders charge exorbitant interest rates as high as <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/nigeria-cracks-down-on-digital-loan-sharks/a-61347733">60 percent</a>. Unable to repay their loans on time, many borrowers find themselves stuck with unsustainable debts.</p>
<p>Is there a role for government? Instead of the usual fanfares on May Day, government officials should focus on how to make food more affordable in Nigeria. A starting point is to learn how India successfully addressed its food shortages and rising food prices.</p>
<h2>Lessons from India</h2>
<p>Food shortages were so severe in the 1950s and 1960s that India became known as the “<a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/guest-column/story/20001127-a-tribute-to-the-spearhead-of-indias-green-revolution-778501-2000-11-27">begging-bowl</a>” nation.</p>
<p>Today, India is not only self-sufficient in food, but food is widely affordable. It has become a net exporter of food.</p>
<p>It turned the situation around through the <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/guest-column/story/20001127-a-tribute-to-the-spearhead-of-indias-green-revolution-778501-2000-11-27">Green Revolution</a> initiated by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in the early 1960s.</p>
<p>This entailed massive investment in rural infrastructure, pro-agriculture economic policies, and land reform. India also invested in agricultural technology, including seedlings, modern machinery, fertiliser, and pesticides.</p>
<p>Land reform under the Green Revolution has enabled rural dwellers to have access to agricultural land, supported by government-provided irrigation systems, rainwater catchments, and extension officers. </p>
<p>India’s land reform placed a ceiling of 25 acres on land ownership per household. Absentee landowners with surplus land were forced to relinquish portions of their land for redistribution to landless farmers. </p>
<p>Contrary to the <a href="https://businessday.ng/agriculture/article/experts-see-small-scale-farming-as-panacea-to-nigerias-food-insecurity/">myth</a> that commercial agriculture is the panacea for Nigeria’s food crisis, India’s agriculture is dominated by small and medium farmers.</p>
<p>Perhaps the greatest boost to food production in India is the country’s extremely cheap and extensive transportation network. Villages are connected to major towns, cities and markets through paved roads and rail systems. </p>
<p>State-owned buses are very pervasive and ply the most isolated regions of the country. Because of easy access to inexpensive transportation, farmers can bring their products to the open market daily.</p>
<p>It’s been a win-win phenomenon for both farmers and workers. Farmers’ incomes have been on the <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.0912953109">rise</a>, while workers have benefited from lower food prices. </p>
<p>Higher rural incomes have spurred demand for manufactured goods, and in many cases has led to the <a href="https://www.niti.gov.in/sites/default/files/2021-08/5_EPW_Article_Changes_in_Rural_Economy_of_India_1971_to_2012.pdf">location of factories</a> in rural communities, hence generating employment opportunities for rural dwellers.</p>
<h2>Small-scale farming is the solution</h2>
<p>The Indian case has shown that the key to food security lies with small producers, as opposed to Nigeria’s focus on large-scale agricultural <a href="https://telecoms.com/86802/nigerias-free-phones-for-farmers-plan-reveals-incoherence-of-rural-strategy/">projects</a> that either produce cash crops or turn out to be white elephants.</p>
<p>To ease food supply constraints and ultimately reduce the cost of food in Nigeria, government should focus on boosting the productive capacities of small-scale farmers. This can be done by granting them access to arable land, providing credit for the purchase of inputs, facilitating access to markets, provision of irrigation and storage facilities, as well as safety nets that insulate them from exogenous shocks.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181545/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Onyeiwu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With a monthly minimum wage of 30,000 Naira (US$72), the average Nigerian worker is groaning under the weight of the rising cost of living.Stephen Onyeiwu, Andrew Wells Robertson Professor of Economics, Allegheny CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1436702020-08-31T14:58:28Z2020-08-31T14:58:28ZWhat’s behind the new push for unionization by journalists<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354977/original/file-20200826-14-162i31b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C399%2C3000%2C1580&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Digital news organizations like Buzzfeed and Vox are among those where journalists are unionizing.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Let’s consider who’s making the news. From essential workers to gig workers and those working from home, the COVID-19 pandemic has put labour issues on journalists’ agendas.</p>
<p>At the same time, journalists are increasingly viewing themselves as <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/154455/save-journalism">“workers first”</a> and forming unions to address longstanding issues in their industry. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.newmediaunions.com/timeline">By our count</a>, since 2015, journalists have unionized at more than 80 digital and legacy media outlets, including at BuzzFeed, VICE Canada, Vox, Canadaland and 28 brands owned by the conglomerate Hearst Magazines.</p>
<h2>Back to the future?</h2>
<p>Journalists’ unions are nothing new. In the 1930s, newspaper journalists unionized to protect editorial independence and collectively negotiate working conditions. By the 2000s, legacy media unions faced big challenges: traditional newsrooms were being <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/20/u-s-newsroom-employment-has-dropped-by-a-quarter-since-2008/">gutted by layoffs</a>. And digital successors, with their tech start-up feel, seemed to be culturally off-limits to unions. </p>
<p>So it was surprising when staff at New York-based <em>Gawker</em> <a href="https://gawker.com/why-weve-decided-to-organize-1698246231">announced</a> in the spring of 2015 it was unionizing, kicking off a wave of unionization in digital media. Since then, thousands of new members have joined <a href="https://newsguild.org/">The NewsGuild</a>, the <a href="https://www.wgaeast.org/">Writers Guild of America, East</a> and the <a href="https://cwacanada.ca/">Communication Workers of America Canada</a>. </p>
<p>Organizing has not let up amid the pandemic. The economic fallout from COVID-19 and the demands for racial justice elevated by protests against anti-Black racism give the media union movement renewed cause. </p>
<p>To understand why and how journalists are unionizing, we interviewed 50 media workers and union staff involved in this organizing push for our book, <a href="https://culturalworkersorganize.org/newmediaunions/"><em>New Media Unions</em></a>. Three themes emerged that persist as journalists continue to organize.</p>
<h2>Protection and voice</h2>
<p>Journalists organized to improve their livelihoods, including low pay and precarious employment. Unionizing enables media workers to negotiate legally binding collective bargaining agreements with employers. Contracts have raised labour standards, introducing salary minimums, increased benefits and a process for converting freelancers to full-time employees, for example.</p>
<p>Less than two months into the pandemic, 36,000 U.S. news workers had lost their jobs, been temporarily laid off or had their pay cut, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/10/business/media/news-media-coronavirus-jobs.html"><em>The New York Times</em></a>. Although news sites’ traffic soared as an anxious public sought information about the health crisis, companies’ ad revenue plunged and many outlets closed. </p>
<p>In hindsight, unionizing was a form of emergency preparedness. Before the pandemic, journalists acted to protect their livelihoods in a volatile industry where closures and cuts were commonplace. Severance packages became a bargaining priority. As union drives continue to launch, the pandemic has not diminished journalists’ resolve to build a safety net.</p>
<p>Journalists are unionizing to protect journalism, too. Contracts strengthen divisions between editorial and marketing departments, for example. And as local outlets are bought up by cost-cutting private equity firms, staff are organizing not just to preserve jobs but also local news, whose role as an essential service has been reaffirmed during the pandemic.</p>
<p>Having a formal mechanism to negotiate with management has given many journalists a say in how their employers respond to the pandemic. <a href="https://latguild.com/news/2020/5/1/la-times-guild-strikes-deal-to-avoid-newsroom-layoffs">The L.A. Times Guild proposed</a> pay cuts rather than layoffs, for example, which the Buzzfeed News Union used as a model to save jobs in their newsroom. </p>
<h2>Diversity and equity</h2>
<p>Racial and gender divides have also been an impetus to organize. Journalists we interviewed classified their workplaces on a narrow diversity spectrum, from “pretty white” to “mostly white” to “overwhelmingly white.” </p>
<p>Journalists are unionizing to change this composition to better reflect the communities they cover. Strategies including reforming informal recruitment practices — hiring from editors’ existing networks, for example — that perpetuate the industry’s homogeneity. </p>
<p>Research and <a href="https://level.medium.com/journalism-while-brown-and-when-to-walk-away-9333ef61de9a">first-person accounts</a> show that women and especially racialized journalists are undervalued and often unable to sustain media careers. Journalists organized for pay equity and have negotiated contracts with salary scales by job title, which close pay gaps. </p>
<p>Beyond contract language that addresses discrimination and harassment, new media unions have negotiated the creation of union-management committees, formal channels where workers can push companies on equity, including retention and promotion of racialized journalists.</p>
<p>When Black Lives Matter protests intensified this summer, journalists’ struggles for racial justice went public. Journalists at the <em>Los Angeles Times</em>, for example, have pressured management to hire more racialized journalists and used the #BlackatLAT hashtag to document the mistreatment of Black journalists. </p>
<p>And after the <em>The New York Times</em> published an op-ed that called for a military response to Black Lives Matter protests, staffers organized a public response, tweeting: “Running this puts Black @nytimes staff in danger.” It <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/6/5/21280425/new-york-times-tom-cotton-send-troops-staff-revolt">led to the resignation</a> of a senior editor.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1268326948339474432"}"></div></p>
<h2>Care and solidarity</h2>
<p>The new media union movement has prioritized an ethic of care. Journalists care deeply about the work that they do, and statements announcing union drives declare workers’ commitment to producing journalism for their communities. </p>
<p>Drives have also been based on friendship. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354974/original/file-20200826-7216-jmlxnz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Hands join on a table top." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354974/original/file-20200826-7216-jmlxnz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354974/original/file-20200826-7216-jmlxnz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354974/original/file-20200826-7216-jmlxnz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354974/original/file-20200826-7216-jmlxnz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354974/original/file-20200826-7216-jmlxnz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354974/original/file-20200826-7216-jmlxnz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354974/original/file-20200826-7216-jmlxnz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many union drives stemmed from friends in newsroom discussing disparities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Piqsels)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many campaigns emerged from friends in newsrooms discussing working conditions. They expanded as journalists in secure positions learned that colleagues were paid less for doing the same work, or were unable to pay rent or access health care. Organizing involves making deep personal connections as journalists have one-on-one discussions about problems at work and what a union could achieve.</p>
<p>As journalists were laid off during the pandemic, this care translated into union members setting up relief funds. The Florida Times-Union Guild, for example, <a href="https://ca.gofundme.com/f/florida-timesunion-relief-fund">has raised</a> more than $15,000 for colleagues in need. </p>
<p>Organizing can blunt the competitive nature of journalism. Workers at outlets that compete for readers now share organizing and bargaining strategies and support union drives with tweets of solidarity. Unions also amplify journalists’ voices in the discussions of wider policy responses to the media crisis, as illustrated by the NewsGuild’s <a href="https://www.savethenews.org/">Save the News</a> campaign.</p>
<p>For several journalists we spoke to, union organizing is a way to care for oneself in a job that can take a toll. As one journalist told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Organizing has been good for my mental health. A lot of the time, we as journalists look at the state of the world and get very depressed. One of the cures for me has been to stand up for our newsroom and for other newsrooms. It has given me renewed hope in the industry.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Unionizing will not fix all the problems facing journalism. But a union remains journalists’ best collective tool to sustain media workers in times of crisis and beyond.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143670/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicole Cohen receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Greig de Peuter receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</span></em></p>Union drives continue to launch at news organizations in the United States and Canada. The COVID-19 pandemic has not diminished journalists’ resolve to build a safety net — and to protect journalism.Nicole Cohen, Associate Professor, Communication, University of TorontoGreig de Peuter, Associate Professor of Communication Studies, Wilfrid Laurier UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1439862020-08-26T16:25:39Z2020-08-26T16:25:39ZHow women are changing the face of Canada’s union leadership<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354427/original/file-20200824-24-1queuc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6000%2C3305&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">About 150 nursing union members show support for long-term care workers at the Orchard Villa Long-Term Care in Pickering, Ont., in June 2020. The facility was hit hard by COVID-19 infections.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As Labour Day approaches, close your eyes and picture the typical union member in Canada. If you conjured an image of a man wearing a hard hat or working in a factory, you missed the mark. </p>
<p>The typical union member in Canada is actually a woman who works in the public sector. She may be a teacher, a nurse, an office clerk at city hall or a mail carrier. All of these jobs are more likely to be unionized than those in the majority-male manufacturing, warehousing or construction sectors. In fact, Statistics Canada’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.25318/1410007001-eng">Labour Force Survey data</a> reveals that, as of 2019, women made up 53.1 per cent of union members. That’s up from 45.8 per cent in 1998 and <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/75-006-x/2013001/article/11878-eng.htm">29 per cent in 1978.</a> </p>
<p>There’s no question that <a href="https://www.unifor.org/sites/default/files/documents/document/workingwomenworkingpoor_letter_web.pdf">women benefit from unionization</a>. Being unionized boosts women’s wages more than it does men’s, when both are compared to their non-union counterparts. </p>
<p>Unionized women also experience a much smaller gender pay gap when compared to unionized men. In other words, unions help women overcome the effects of gender discrimination in the workplace. This “union advantage” is even greater for women who are affected by other forms of systemic discrimination.</p>
<p>Despite becoming numerically dominant within unions, women are still under-represented in positions of union leadership. The number of women leading national unions in Canada today can be counted on one hand. And women currently lead only three of the country’s provincial and territorial federations of labour. </p>
<h2>Glass ceiling persists</h2>
<p>The under-representation of women in positions of leadership is not unique to the labour movement. We see similar imbalances in corporate and political spheres. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Chrystia Freeland speaks at a news conference with Justin Trudeau behind her, wearing a mask." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354438/original/file-20200824-18-1mn8z4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354438/original/file-20200824-18-1mn8z4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354438/original/file-20200824-18-1mn8z4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354438/original/file-20200824-18-1mn8z4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354438/original/file-20200824-18-1mn8z4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354438/original/file-20200824-18-1mn8z4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354438/original/file-20200824-18-1mn8z4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chrystia Freeland recently broke the glass ceiling by becoming the first woman to hold the position of finance minister in Canadian history.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although unions are doing better than Canada’s <a href="https://www.thestar.com/business/2019/11/19/only-62-comfortable-with-female-ceos.html">corporate sector</a>, organized labour still has a long way to go when it comes to fully shattering the glass ceiling for women.</p>
<p>The glass ceiling is an often-used metaphor that refers to an invisible barrier that prevents women and other equity-seeking groups, regardless of their skills or qualifications, from advancing into leadership positions within organizations. While in theory, nothing prevents a woman from being elected to a top leadership position, the glass ceiling represents the subtle ways that organizations devalue and doubt women’s leadership skills based on gender stereotypes.</p>
<p>Despite these barriers, women have periodically risen to top leadership positions within individual public sector unions or labour federations over the years. But securing positions of leadership within unions has been a long, hard-fought struggle for women workers. </p>
<p>And even while being severely under-represented in positions of leadership, union women have undeniably had an impact. Their activism paved the way for the labour movement to <a href="http://www.yorku.ca/lbriskin/pdf/bargainingpaperFINAL3secure.pdf">campaign for and secure</a> pay equity, employer-paid daycare, paid maternity leave and rules banning gender-based discrimination in the workplace. </p>
<p>Unions could do much more to fight gender discrimination by having more women in senior leadership positions.</p>
<h2>Public sector unions are trail-blazers</h2>
<p>Not surprisingly, public sector unions, where women have always been most concentrated, were the first to see women elected to significant leadership roles. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354429/original/file-20200824-14-1xw6dva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman wearing glasses speaks into a microphone in a black-and-white photo." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354429/original/file-20200824-14-1xw6dva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354429/original/file-20200824-14-1xw6dva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354429/original/file-20200824-14-1xw6dva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354429/original/file-20200824-14-1xw6dva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354429/original/file-20200824-14-1xw6dva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=667&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354429/original/file-20200824-14-1xw6dva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=667&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354429/original/file-20200824-14-1xw6dva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=667&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Grace Hartman, right, then the president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, speaks at a news conference in July 1983.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CP PHOTO/Chuck Stoody</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) elected <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/grace-hartman">Grace Hartman</a> as its national president in 1975. She was the first woman to lead a national union in North America. In 1986, CUPE’s <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/shirley-carr">Shirley Carr</a> was the first woman elected to the presidency of the Canadian Labour Congress, Canada’s largest labour umbrella organization.</p>
<p>Public sector unions continue to be trail-blazers. In November 2014, <a href="https://bcfed.ca/governance/officers/irene-lanzinger">Irene Lazinger</a> of the B.C. Teachers’ Federation was the first woman elected to the presidency of the B.C. Federation of Labour. </p>
<p>In May 2019, <a href="https://www.cupw.ca/en/historic-election-cupw-postal-workers-elect-first-female-black-president">Jan Simpson</a> became the first Black woman to lead a national union in Canada when she was elected president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. And in November 2019, <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2019/11/26/1952887/0/en/Patty-Coates-first-woman-to-be-elected-President-of-the-Ontario-Federation-of-Labour.html">Patty Coates</a> of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation became the first woman to lead the Ontario Federation of Labour. </p>
<h2>Private sector unions lag</h2>
<p>In contrast, a woman has yet to be elected to the presidency of any major private sector union in Canada. However, there are signs that a long overdue breakthrough may be in the works.</p>
<p>Some private sector unions have redesigned their leadership structures to help women break the glass ceiling within their own ranks. In 2013, Unifor, Canada’s largest private sector union, adopted an <a href="https://www.unifor.org/sites/default/files/documents/document/unifor_constitution_eng_2017_ltr_size.pdf">executive structure</a> that guarantees the number of women on the union’s executive board be at least equal the proportion of women in the union overall. </p>
<p>In 2017, the Canadian section of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union achieved equal representation of women and men on its national executive board for the first time after delegates to the union’s convention adopted <a href="http://www.ufcw.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=46:women&catid=8:women&Itemid=142&lang=en">a resolution</a> mandating the expansion of women’s representation. </p>
<h2>Two women vying for top union job</h2>
<p>Later this year, two women — <a href="http://www.ufcw.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=32543:ufcw-832-activist-bea-bruske-announces-candidacy-for-clc-president&catid=10134&Itemid=6&lang=en">Bea Bruske</a> of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union and <a href="https://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/alberta-diary/2020/01/linda-silas-announces-bid-lead-canadian-labour-congress">Linda Silas</a> of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions — are expected to compete for the presidency of the Canadian Labour Congress. It will be the first election in the history of the congress where both major contenders are women.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354430/original/file-20200824-22-40bj0t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman with dark shoulder-length hair speaks into a microphone behind a podium that reads Premiers Ministres." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354430/original/file-20200824-22-40bj0t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354430/original/file-20200824-22-40bj0t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354430/original/file-20200824-22-40bj0t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354430/original/file-20200824-22-40bj0t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354430/original/file-20200824-22-40bj0t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354430/original/file-20200824-22-40bj0t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354430/original/file-20200824-22-40bj0t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Linda Silas, president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, talks with reporters in St. Andrews, N.B., in July 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Why does gender representation matter now, more than ever? </p>
<p>So many of the issues we now face because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting disruptions in work, home and school are <a href="https://www.gendereconomy.org/primer-on-the-gendered-impacts-of-covid-19/">borne by women</a>. Racialized and poor women are even more at risk of COVID-19 exposure because of the service and care work they do and the lack of choices they have to engage in social distancing. </p>
<p>More than ever, we need a gendered and equity lens in leadership to understand how the pandemic is being experienced differently, and how union responses can protect those who are most vulnerable. </p>
<p>Unions must continue to enhance efforts to recruit and sustain a critical mass of women, particularly visible minority and LBGTQ women, into leadership roles in the years to come. These efforts cannot be mere tokenism. Rather, they must reflect a commitment to ensuring that the changing face of Canada’s unionized workers is reflected in the leadership of the union movement.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143986/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Unions must continue to try to recruit and sustain a critical mass of women, particularly visible minority and LBGTQ women, into leadership roles in the years to come.Stephanie Ross, Associate Professor and Director, School of Labour Studies, McMaster UniversityLarry Savage, Professor, Labour Studies, Brock UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1436642020-08-23T14:39:24Z2020-08-23T14:39:24ZEmployers should help workers struggling with child care during COVID-19<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352763/original/file-20200813-20-hglqmf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4031%2C3024&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">When daycares and schools closed during the pandemic, it caused burdens for working parents, particularly mothers. What is the responsibility of organizations to employees with children struggling with child care issues?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Christopher Ryan/Unsplash)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The media abounds with stories of how working parents across Canada <a href="https://theconversation.com/working-parents-dealing-with-coronavirus-quarantines-will-face-psychological-challenges-134498">are struggling</a> with caring for their young children during the COVID-19 pandemic while daycares and schools closed or operated part-time. </p>
<p>So what is the responsibility of employers towards employees who have children during the pandemic? Are organizations responsible for their employees, and if so, what does this responsibility involve? </p>
<p>I examine these questions using the social connection model that the late Iris Marion Young, an American political theorist, developed in her book <a href="https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195392388.001.0001/acprof-9780195392388"><em>Responsibility for Justice</em></a>.</p>
<h2>Child care difficulties</h2>
<p>Child care can be difficult to access. It can represent a substantial financial expense for parents relative to their salary. It can also be challenging to reach from where they live and work, and it can be incompatible with work hours. </p>
<p>Child care that is difficult to access has serious consequences. For example, when the financial cost of child care is overwhelming, one parent stops working, entirely or partially, to care for the children. That parent is often the mother. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman lies in a bed with white bedding cuddling her baby." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352765/original/file-20200813-24-1icr2q5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352765/original/file-20200813-24-1icr2q5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352765/original/file-20200813-24-1icr2q5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352765/original/file-20200813-24-1icr2q5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352765/original/file-20200813-24-1icr2q5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352765/original/file-20200813-24-1icr2q5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352765/original/file-20200813-24-1icr2q5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The lion’s share of child care still falls to women, taking them out of the running for professional leadership roles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Kevin Liang/Unsplash)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Women, in fact, are still stereotyped as caregivers; according to Statistics Canada, they do more <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-503-x/2015001/article/54931-eng.htm">unpaid care work</a> than men. At the same time, they are less likely to do <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-503-x/2015001/article/14694-eng.htm">full-time paid work</a>, and those who do work full-time earn lower pay and are less likely to be in <a href="https://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/987047/">leadership positions</a>. </p>
<p>For lone working parents, <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-503-x/2015001/article/54931-eng.htm">most of whom</a> are women, alternative accommodations for child care can be more challenging to find, and can require working part-time or stopping work, or relying on family members. </p>
<p>The consequences from difficult-to-access child care are unjust: individuals, more often women than men, need to make painful choices that others with more resources do not have to make. </p>
<p>These injustices are structural because they aren’t specific to one individual. Instead, they are widespread, since many individuals, more often women than men, are limited in how they can act due also to conditions like cultural rules and norms regarding child care.</p>
<h2>Women most affected during COVID-19</h2>
<p>As the COVID-19 pandemic started to spread across Canada in March 2020 and daycares closed, structural injustices related to access to child care were exposed.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1238532050770169859"}"></div></p>
<p>Women across Canada who had not already lost their work took over <a href="https://thoughtleadership.rbc.com/pandemic-threatens-decades-of-womens-labour-force-gains/">care work</a> and stopped their <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/cv.action?pid=1410012701">paid work</a>.</p>
<p>The social connection model is concerned with the responsibility not of an organization, but individuals in the organization. Their responsibility arises not because they’re to blame for past actions towards employees, but because they can contribute to unjust structures, typically unknowingly, as they go about their professional lives, making decisions and taking actions. </p>
<p>For example, business leaders make decisions about hiring, performance evaluation and promotion, which can be perfectly reasonable according to long accepted rules, norms and cultures. </p>
<p>But those rules, norms and cultures are often unjust — for example, parental leave rules that differ based on gender and unconscious gender bias during performance evaluation. </p>
<p>Accordingly, decisions can contribute to injustices faced by employees with children, notably by maintaining the <a href="https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/why-fatherhood-holds-the-key-to-solving-the-gender-pay-gap/">gender gap in pay</a> and women’s relatively lower pay, <a href="http://claudinemangen.com/dusting-of-old-gender-roles/">making child care less accessible</a>. </p>
<h2>Shared responsibilities</h2>
<p>In the social connection model, the responsibility of individuals to address structural injustice towards employees is shared. </p>
<p>Because all individuals at an organization contribute through their daily practices to this structural injustice, no one can, single-handedly, solve structural injustice. Instead, responsibility can only be discharged collectively when employers and employees join forces.</p>
<p>Some people have a more significant role to play: those with more considerable decision-making powers and those with more extensive means since they are better-equipped to address injustice (organizational leaders, for example), as well as those who know the injustice well because they witness or experience it (for example, employees who are parents or child care associations).</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A toddler's hand reaches for a laptop keyboard." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352789/original/file-20200813-20-5g1c5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352789/original/file-20200813-20-5g1c5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352789/original/file-20200813-20-5g1c5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352789/original/file-20200813-20-5g1c5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352789/original/file-20200813-20-5g1c5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352789/original/file-20200813-20-5g1c5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352789/original/file-20200813-20-5g1c5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Employees with children who are trying to juggle work and child care responsibilities should have a voice in decisions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Charles Deluvio/Unsplash)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In practice, organizational leaders, child care associations and parents can act together to appeal to the government to make childcare more accessible, a challenge that is still <a href="https://theconversation.com/better-public-child-care-is-the-engine-we-need-for-recovery-post-coronavirus-140241">very real</a> in Canada and that’s resulted in recent <a href="https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/july-2020/rebuilding-childcare-in-canada-must-include-a-national-strategy/">calls for action</a>. </p>
<p>Hopefully, organizational leaders will step in and rise to the occasion. They have been able to work together to address other societal challenges, including <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-corporations-are-stepping-up-to-tackle-crises-when-governments-wont-123163">climate change</a> — so why not the challenges faced by their employees when it comes to childcare, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143664/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claudine Mangen receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada</span></em></p>COVID-19 has spotlighted structural injustice inherent in child care in Canada. Organizational leaders have a responsibility to work together, with child care stakeholders, to redress this injustice.Claudine Mangen, RBC Professor in Responsible Organizations and Associate Professor, Concordia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1437872020-08-23T14:39:22Z2020-08-23T14:39:22ZHeroes, or just doing our job? The impact of COVID-19 on registered nurses in a border city<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353499/original/file-20200818-14-116rlqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=203%2C1%2C868%2C716&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some nurses who live in Windsor, Ont. work at hospitals in Detroit, just across the Ambassador Bridge.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.who.int/campaigns/year-of-the-nurse-and-the-midwife-2020">Year of the Nurse</a> brought increased attention to the “heroes of health care”: nurses working on the front lines of COVID-19. However, despite <a href="https://windsor.ctvnews.ca/thank-you-windsor-health-care-workers-feel-the-love-1.4871787">public displays of thanks</a>, it’s becoming clear that many nurses are not getting the support they need to feel safe on the job and to maintain their own health and well-being.</p>
<p>As researchers in psychology and nursing at the University of Windsor, we sought an in-depth understanding of how nurses in a border city felt about working during the pandemic. </p>
<p>Evidence from SARS in 2003 indicated that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/alcalc/agn073">nurses may experience significant, long-term mental health effects from working during the pandemic</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.13014">Early research</a> from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2020.04.008">China</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113129">Italy</a> found that nurses working during the surge of COVID-19 cases in those countries reported <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2020.03.018">high rates of depression, anxiety and sleep disturbances</a>. </p>
<h2>Commuting in a border city</h2>
<p>As a border city, Windsor, Ont., is home to nurses who reside and work locally, but also a significant number who commute daily to hospitals in Detroit, Mich. Early in the pandemic, Detroit emerged as a “hot spot” partly due to significant <a href="https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.7405">racial inequalities and health disparities</a> in the city’s population. </p>
<p>Detroit hospitals depend on their Canadian nurse employees. In 2016, <a href="https://www.workforcewindsoressex.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Cross-Border-Employment-Report.pdf">20 per cent of the nurses working at Henry Ford Hospital were Canadian, and a total of 1,600 Windsor residents</a> reported working in health-care settings in Detroit. The continued ability of these hospitals to operate during and after the pandemic depends on the retention of Canadian personnel. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A Canadian flag and an American flag in the foreground with a suspension bridge over a river behind them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353478/original/file-20200818-24956-v85r41.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353478/original/file-20200818-24956-v85r41.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353478/original/file-20200818-24956-v85r41.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353478/original/file-20200818-24956-v85r41.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353478/original/file-20200818-24956-v85r41.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353478/original/file-20200818-24956-v85r41.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353478/original/file-20200818-24956-v85r41.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Canadian and American flags fly near the Ambassador Bridge at the Canada-United States border crossing in Windsor, Ont., on March 21, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Rob Gurdebeke</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In May and June 2020, our team interviewed 32 female and five male nurses living in Windsor and working in health-care settings in Windsor (20 nurses) or Detroit (17 nurses). They worked on intensive care units, COVID-specific units, labour and delivery units, in emergency departments and field hospitals, with experience in nursing ranging from 1.5 to 36 years. </p>
<h2>Concerns about family and mental health</h2>
<p>Nurses consistently reported increased mental health concerns, difficulties coping and substantial dissatisfaction with the level of support provided by their hospitals. </p>
<p>The support that nurses felt from their organization and managers varied from workplace to workplace and unit to unit. A few felt well supported, but many reported they were not valued, citing organizations that furloughed them, stopped employer contributions to retirement funds or did not provide adequate PPE. One participant noted: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I didn’t sign up for not having myself protected, you know, I think I deserve as a nurse to at least have that.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Despite increasing levels of depression and anxiety, there was a strong sense that referrals to employee assistance plans (EAPs) were not sufficient. Overall, we found that nurses were surprisingly resistant to the idea of formal mental health supports. They felt more comfortable seeking support from their coworkers or “work family” than non-nurse family/friends or organizational supports. Many expressed fears that seeking help from hospital administration would be perceived as a sign of weakness. One participant stated: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Heaven forbid, you say mental health or stress … because then they’ll take you from your unit, and say, put you at the front door as a greeter.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Nurses also expressed concerns about their own health and the health of family members. They described difficulties balancing quality patient care with “cluster care,” which limited their time in patient rooms, and the emotional toll of “death over Facetime” as one participant called it: holding electronic tablets as dying patients said their goodbyes to family. </p>
<p>They experienced difficulties navigating rapidly changing hospital policies (sometimes during a single shift), discrepancies between governmental and hospital recommendations, do not resuscitate orders that were either avoided or forced, and inadequate access to PPE. </p>
<p>Many reported sleep issues, nightmares, fatigue, increased irritability, increased alcohol consumption, unhealthy eating habits and use of sleep aids and cannabis. Many self-isolated from their families and missed out on the day-to-day moments and key developmental milestones of their children. One participant recounted: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I missed my kid’s entire crawling stage.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Many nurses spoke of inequity and moral injury. They expressed frustration about doctors and men with facial hair receiving better PPE, temporary employees (that is, travel nurses) getting better pay and/or hours, being reassigned to multiple units and doing non-nursing tasks like cleaning COVID-19 positive rooms. Nurses felt better prepared to be reassigned if they volunteered, but not if it was forced (and some were). </p>
<p>Some nurses were encouraged to purchase their own PPE to use at work, for example, face shields from Amazon or even dollar store raincoats. Almost everyone we interviewed expressed concern about second and third waves and whether the hospitals would be prepared.</p>
<h2>Heroes … but stigmatized</h2>
<p>Nurses expressed appreciation regarding the community responses (for example, clapping, food donations, skipping lines at businesses) but also felt a lot of stigma as potential “disease carriers.” One participant shared:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“[The public] keep saying: ‘Oh, nurses are heroes. Doctors are heroes. They’re doing so much for us.’ You’re out in scrubs and they’re like, ‘They’re contaminated, get them away, they’re infectious.’” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>There were some differences in responses between nurses employed in Detroit and those working in Windsor. Overall, nurses working on the Michigan side of the border reported greater patient mortality, PPE shortages, community stigma and dissatisfaction with hospital administration. However, these findings are complicated by the much more rapid onset and greater intensity of the COVID-19 pandemic in Detroit compared to Windsor, and therefore can’t be interpreted with confidence.</p>
<p>Most nurses said that they were not planning on leaving nursing, but several are considering changing units or looking to a career change if the pandemic continues for many months or even years. Nurses also highlighted issues that the public may not be aware of: a moratorium on organ donation, decreased quality of care or risk of family-patient online meetings getting hacked.</p>
<p>Rapid intervention and availability of supports are needed to quickly address symptoms of mental health issues and reduce loss in the nursing workforce that has been observed after previous outbreaks, such as SARS, which could exacerbate a pre-pandemic shortage of nurses in Canada. </p>
<p>Nursing is a profession with a reputation for trustworthiness and dedication to quality care. As a community, we need solutions that go beyond a pat on the back and “hero” label, and instead address unsafe working conditions and offer practical effective support.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143787/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jody Ralph receives funding from WE-SPARK Health Institute and the University of Windsor. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dana Ménard receives funding from WE-SPARK Health Institute and the University of Windsor.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kendall Soucie receives funding from WE-SPARK Health Institute and the University of Windsor.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laurie A. Freeman receives funding from WE-SPARK Health Institute and the University of Windsor</span></em></p>Nurses on both sides of the border report that they aren’t getting the support they need to feel safe on the job and maintain their own health and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.Jody Ralph, Associate Professor, Nursing, University of WindsorDana Ménard, Assistant professor of clinical psychology, University of WindsorKendall Soucie, Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of WindsorLaurie A. Freeman, Associate Professor, Nursing, University of WindsorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1436662020-08-19T19:28:30Z2020-08-19T19:28:30ZHow to combat the sexism faced by women farmers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352070/original/file-20200810-22-1gih4h9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5040%2C3357&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Women farmers say they face sexism and dismissiveness, and are expected to juggle farm work with caregiving. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Piqsels)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Although women have played crucial roles throughout the history of Canadian agriculture and agri-food — from food production to processing and preparation — agriculture remains a male-dominated industry. Women currently comprise 29 per cent of farm operators nationally, and this number edges up only slightly with each new census. </p>
<p>In Saskatchewan, one of the country’s most productive agricultural regions, the percentage of women operators is even <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/95-640-x/2016001/article/14807-eng.htm">lower than the national average</a>, at 25 per cent. </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://wekh.ca/research/boosting-economic-growth-a-report-on-women-ag-entrepreneurship-in-saskatchewan/">new report</a> released by the <a href="https://wekh.ca">Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub</a> and the <a href="https://www.uregina.ca/business/">Hill-Levene Schools of Business</a> at the University of Regina, we examined the current situation for women entrepreneurs in Saskatchewan’s agriculture and agri-food sector. </p>
<p>Based on a detailed review of existing studies and statistics, as well as interviews with 32 people working across the agri-food chain, our report showed that despite ongoing barriers associated with gender inequality, women agriculture entrepreneurs are optimistic about the future. </p>
<h2>Stereotypes, sexism, invisible work</h2>
<p>Interview participants identified significant ongoing challenges for women across the sector. These challenges were mostly caused by stereotypes, sexism and women’s <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-503-x/2015001/article/54931-eng.htm">disproportionate responsibility for domestic and caregiving work</a>. Women’s agricultural work is commonly scheduled around caregiving responsibilities.</p>
<p>Interview participants emphasized that although women may perform different agricultural tasks than men, their contributions are no less important — despite being frequently overlooked. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman dressed in a purple turtleneck, jeans and rubber boots tends to three calves in a stall" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352065/original/file-20200810-18-10n7a48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3594%2C2344&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352065/original/file-20200810-18-10n7a48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352065/original/file-20200810-18-10n7a48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352065/original/file-20200810-18-10n7a48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352065/original/file-20200810-18-10n7a48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352065/original/file-20200810-18-10n7a48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352065/original/file-20200810-18-10n7a48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Farmer Julia Bourque tends to female triplet calves named Love, Faith and Hope as they romp around their pen in November 2011 near Fredericton, N.B.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/ David Smith</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In primary production (farming and ranching), women shared stories of being talked over or dismissed by salespeople, lenders and even their own employees.</p>
<p>One woman told us: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“When you say that you’re a woman farmer, there’s that stereotype … you know: ‘Are you a farmer? Or do you just help your husband?’”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Women also report <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/54caa57de4b09cd878bfa0c1/t/57b37dbac534a5fd32ed746d/1471380923282/Needs+Assessment+Report+Final+to+be+released++072416.pdf">challenges accessing financial capital</a>. They are <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/pub/96-325-x/2017001/article/54925-eng.pdf?st=C64jy9pZ">more likely than men to rent or lease their land</a> as opposed to owning it, and have smaller farms on average. </p>
<h2>‘The only woman in the room’</h2>
<p>Increased visibility, representation and decision-making power are important for women’s advancement in agriculture, but women remain under-represented in decision-making spheres. </p>
<p><a href="http://cwse-prairies.ca/pages/mentorship/docs/SAWANeedsAssessment.pdf">A study</a> by the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council found that women represent only 25 per cent of agriculture managers. The same study found that of 65 national and provincial farm associations, only 12 per cent had a woman as their board chair or president, 12 per cent had a woman vice-president or vice-chair, and just 28 per cent had at least one woman on their board’s executive committees. </p>
<p>Participants in our study described “old boys clubs” and the feeling of being the only woman (or one of few) at agricultural meetings. One woman said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“There’s people that don’t think that [agriculture is] your place, and you should have a man there who’s making all the decisions.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>One interview participant described how she had experienced unwanted sexual advances at a farm show, which further entrenches the notion of agricultural space as primarily a space for men.</p>
<h2>Optimism for the future</h2>
<p>Despite the challenges, women agriculture entrepreneurs (along with those in supportive industries or roles) are optimistic about the future. </p>
<p>Participants discussed how role models and supportive networks between women entrepreneurs in agriculture can help with confidence-building. </p>
<p>Women are leading advocacy efforts for mental health and for increased public understanding of agriculture, particularly through social media entrepreneurship. A participant noted that social media advocacy cannot be only about optics and visibility but should also help tackle key issues affecting women specifically.</p>
<p>Existing studies also suggest that alternative agriculture — such as on-farm processing, alternative marketing (for example, community-supported agriculture) and organics — may provide a more welcoming space for women compared to the dominant industrial model.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman bends to arrange boxes in a kiosk at a farmer's market." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352064/original/file-20200810-16-um4mrm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352064/original/file-20200810-16-um4mrm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352064/original/file-20200810-16-um4mrm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352064/original/file-20200810-16-um4mrm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352064/original/file-20200810-16-um4mrm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352064/original/file-20200810-16-um4mrm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352064/original/file-20200810-16-um4mrm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A woman arranges boxes in a kiosk at a farmer’s market in Montréal.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>An organic farmer in our study said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Organic farming, too, is different. The only time I’ve felt uncomfortable as a woman in a room was when I’ve been in a conventional [i.e., non-organic] farming meeting or conference. I think there’s definitely a difference.” </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Recommendations for change</h2>
<p>Our report presents several recommendations to facilitate and support women’s agricultural entrepreneurship.</p>
<p>To address under-representation and lack of recognition, a clearer definition and effective documentation of women’s presence in the sector is required, including in formal business ownership agreements. </p>
<p>Child care is needed, especially child care tailored to the unconventional schedules of farming and business ownership, along with child-friendly spaces at agricultural meetings and conferences. Men can play a supportive role by engaging equally in child care and domestic work and by challenging sexism. </p>
<p>Finally, we recommend training, networking and financial supports designed specifically for women in the agriculture sector. </p>
<p>Addressing deeply ingrained gender inequality creates more equitable participation in policy-making and leadership for our land and food — and that benefits everyone.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143666/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amber Fletcher receives research funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and Mitacs. She is a past president of the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (CRIAW). This project was funded by the Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (WEKH).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christie Newton receives funding from the University of Regina Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>This project was funded by the Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (WEKH). Gina Grandy receives funding from WEKH to coordinate the regional hub at the Hill Levene Schools of Business. Gina is a co-researcher on a SSHRC Partnership Grant "Inclusive Innovation and Entrepreneurship Network" led by Dr. Wendy Cukier at Ryerson University. Gina has also received funding from SSHRC and CIHR in the past.
</span></em></p>New research suggests women farmers face significant challenges mostly due to stereotypes, sexism and women’s disproportionate responsibility for domestic and caregiving work.Amber J. Fletcher, Associate Professor, Sociology & Social Studies, University of ReginaChristie Newton, MSc student, Organizational Studies, University of ReginaGina Grandy, Professor (Strategy and Leadership), Dean of Hill and Levene Business Schools, University of Regina, University of ReginaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.