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POWER GAP: Canada has all the laws it needs to protect against gender discrimination in the workplace — but those laws are nearly impossible to enforce. As a result women are being forced to sign NDAs to get out of bad situations. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-power-gap-broken-pipeline/
The same kind of agreements that silenced Harvey Weinstein’s accusers & enabled his behaviour to continue for years are being used in Canada to resolve all manner of gender discrimination complaints: pay, promotion, pregnancy, bullying & sexual harassment https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-power-gap-broken-pipeline/
Women are turning to these settlement agreements because the legal system that was established to deal with gender discrimination complaints - the human rights tribunal system - is so under-resourced it takes 2-4 years to get a hearing. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-power-gap-broken-pipeline/
If you do make it to a hearing and win, the damages are almost always low (typically $5,000 to $35,000) and there are no "cost" awards, so the losing side doesn't pay your lawyer fees. For many, it's not worth it. #PowerGap https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-power-gap-broken-pipeline/
Balancing the risks against the rewards, settling and moving on is a common option. With those deals is a promise of secrecy, meaning the business or institution never has to fix the problem. These deals obscure our understanding of how common gender discrimination at work is.
If you're under the impression that women are no longer fired for becoming pregnant, you're wrong. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-power-gap-broken-pipeline/
The cultural and sociological barriers women face have been well documented. But there’s a missing piece of context in the discussion around why women aren’t rising at the same rate as men, and it’s that businesses and institutions are able to break the law with few consequences.
