QUEEN’S PARK – Ontario NDP MPP Jill Andrew, Opposition Critic for Women’s Social and Economic Opportunity has released the following statement as the Association of Midwives mark 30 years of the Midwifery Act, first passed by an NDP government:
“Ontario’s midwives provide vital services to expecting parents and families. For too long Ontario’s midwives have been undermined by Doug Ford’s conservatives and governments before them. The pay in this woman-dominated industry hasn’t kept up with inflation nor has it kept up with the pace of other health-care professionals.
The Ontario Human Rights Commission made it clear – this is gender-based discrimination. Decades after passing the Pay Equity Act, our fight to actualize pay equity, especially in women-dominated professions, is nowhere near done.
It’s time for the government to step up and pay midwives what they’re worth, improve their working conditions, and give them access to the resources that they need.
Doug Ford and his government must stop dragging their feet and implement the Ontario Human Rights Commission's recommendations.”