Before looking at this answer sheet, try out our pop quiz on women at work and in the union.
1. (a) 70%. The huge increase of women with young children in the paid labour force is one of the most dramatic changes in Canadian society in the past two decades. Despite the high participation rates of women in the labour force, there are only enough regulated childcare spaces to accommodate about 15.5% of children aged 0 to 12.
2. (c) 32%. This reflects the increased unionization of the public sector, that is predominantly female.
3. (a) 32%. The number of men in unions has dropped from just over 40% in the 1960s.
4. ( c) 7 out of every 10 part-time workers are women. 18% of employed women said they worked part-time because of family or childcare responsibilities. However, 26% of all women working part-time said they did so because they could not find full-time employment.
5. (a). Women working full-time/full-year earn on average 71% of what a man earns.
6. ( c) 10 days. Men missed, on average, a day and a half of work because of family responsibilities.
7. (a) 38% of single-parent families headed by women are below the LICO. Thirteen percent (13%) of lone-parent families headed by men lived below the low income cut off line.
8. ( c) 34.3%. Belonging to a union helps raise wages. Even though women of colour are more likely to be better educated (31% with university degree) than other Canadian women (21% with university), they still have poorer market outcomes. Women of colour are disproportionately concentrated in low paid clerical, sales and service work.
9. (a) 33%. The gender break-down of our union has changed dramatically since CUPE was formed. Men used to make up two-thirds of the membership, whereas now women represent almost two-thirds of CUPE members.
10. ( c) 27%. Women are less likely to be presidents of large locals.