Women Power Work: 50 Years of Organizing. Fund It, Fix It, and Fight for It!
For generations, in every sector and community, women and gender‑diverse workers in Ontario have done more than show up. We’ve kept this province running. From hospitals and classrooms to transit, retail, construction, and public services, we hold up families, workplaces, and communities. In 2026 the OFL Women’s Committee marks 50 years of organizing across generations to win real change. That history is not just a celebration; it’s a mandate to act.
More women are in the workforce than ever, yet the gaps remain. Women on average still earn less than men, and we are under‑represented in decision‑making roles. The average white woman in Canada earns about 71 cents for every dollar white men earn, and women still hold a smaller share of management and senior leadership positions. That gap is even bigger for Black, Indigenous, racialized, newcomer, disabled and trans women.
Gender‑based violence is still a crisis. Every 48 hours in Canada, a woman or girl is killed. Trans and gender‑diverse people face high rates of harassment and violence. We cannot call our communities safe while survivors wait for housing, supports, and justice.
These are not individual problems. They are structural. When governments underfund care, cap wages, and ignore pay inequity, women and gender‑diverse people pay the price. When workers rely on precarious jobs without paid sick days, people are forced to choose between safety and a paycheque. When leaders who speak up face hate and harassment, our democracy suffers.
This must change now!
1. Economic security is safety.
- Enforce pay equity, expand pay transparency, and resource proactive audits. Not just complaints. Use Ontario and federal pay equity laws as floors, not ceilings.
- Make decent work the norm: fair wages, stable hours, and full‑time jobs in care, education, and community services.
2. Ten (10) paid sick days for all workers in Ontario.
- The ESA still guarantees only 3 unpaid sick days. That’s not protection; it’s a risk. Legislate 10 employer‑paid sick days so no one has to work sick or stay in harm’s way to keep a job.
3. Name gender‑based violence as the public health crisis it is and fund the response.
- Declare intimate partner violence an epidemic and deliver annualized, multi‑year funding for shelters, rape crisis centres, counselling, and rural/remote services.
- Implement strong workplace violence and harassment prevention, including protections against third‑party harassment (customers/clients) and full support for federal action under C‑190 to close gaps.
- Protect and promote access to Domestic or Sexual Violence Leave, including the first five paid days and remove barriers to taking it.
4. Child care that truly works for families and workers.
- Deliver on $10‑a‑day child care by securing long‑term federal‑provincial funding, expanding spaces, and raising wages for Early Childhood Educators so programs can hire and keep staff. Parents can’t wait; workers can’t afford to leave the sector.
5. Safe leadership for women and gender‑diverse people.
- Stop the smear campaigns and online/offline harassment against women and gender‑diverse leaders. Media, institutions, and platforms must enforce clear anti‑hate standards. Our movement backs leaders who speak truth and fight for justice.
6. Representation with power.
- We want more women and gender‑diverse people in boardrooms, on bargaining teams, and in public office and we want them safe and supported when they lead.
What we can do together:
- Show up for IWD. Join OFL’s Women Power Work campaign and 50th‑anniversary activities. Wear the shirt, carry the poster, and bring your local.
- Build community and strategy. Strengthen organizing in your local, your workplace, and your community. Hold conversations across generations, support women and gender‑diverse workers stepping into leadership and create spaces online or in person where people can learn, plan, and take action together.
- Back survivors. Donate, volunteer, and advocate for annualized funding for anti‑violence services in your community and push your MPP to act.
- Use your voice and your vote. Talk to your co‑workers, your family, your friends, your neighbours, your community members. Women’s voices and votes change outcomes on wages, child care, health care, housing, and safety.
- Organize at work. Join a union, enforce your contract, and make your workplace a leader on pay equity, paid sick days, and zero tolerance for violence and harassment.
International Women’s Day is not a holiday from struggle. It’s a day to gather our power. Women power work. Fund it. Fix it. Fight for it!
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