CanWCC Policy Position Paper on Parental Leave Benefits
Author: Deirdre Cleveland | Research Analyst, Canadian Women’s Chamber of Commerce
Action on parental leave is imperative to gender equality and to the economy in Canada. Parental leave in Canada is currently administered in the same way and by the same agency as Employment Insurance (EI) benefits, which makes it challenging to establish unpaid domestic and care labour as legitimate, economically and socially valuable work. It has also resulted in segments of the population being routinely excluded from accessing benefits, despite having contributed to EI. On average, 38% of mothers are excluded from accessing benefits under the federal EI-based parental leave program.
In effect, the current structure of parental leave policy in Canada is supporting the social reproduction of higher-income families at the expense of lower-income families.
Read Full Article Here: https://links.canwcc.ca/ParentalLeavePaper
