Tourism/Women’s leadership

Why this project?

Women, particularly racialized women, single moms, and/or victim-survivors of employment sabotage, are left behind in Canada’s labour market. They face barriers to securing employment, particularly with predictable work schedules. In addition to coping with the impacts of IPV when seeking or keeping employment, survivors are overrepresented in low-paying jobs and face racial and gender wage gaps. In most provinces and territories, domestic abuse victims can only take 5 days paid leave and 5 days unpaid leave. The Canadian Employment Insurance Act further restricts women’s access to benefits, disproportionately affecting part-timers and single mothers.

Women make up 49% of those working in tourism and hospitality, two of Canada’s fastest-growing sectors. However, these sectors also offer some of the lowest-quality and lowest-paid jobs. Workers tend to be temporarily or partially employed and, as a result, excluded from financial and security programs and regulations.

While entrepreneurship and loan support programs exist, survivor entrepreneurs often cannot access them. They face barriers in receiving micro-loans to initiate their business ventures, including discriminatory lending practices, access to equitable financial services and societal stigmatization.

Project objective

The objective is to change policies and remove systemic barriers for survivors in the tourism sector and beyond to promote safer workplaces, women’s economic security, and entrepreneurship.

Timeline

The project runs for three years between the beginning of July 2024 and the end of March 2027.

This project is funded by the federal department of Women and Gender Equality (WAGE)