It's International Women's Day, a day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. So let’s recognize the contributions women make to social impact work and the challenges they face.
Women are the foundation of the nonprofit sector: In Canada, 80% of the nonprofit workforce identify as female. In the US, it's over 75%.
Women are a huge force behind the hard work being done to support people in need and create social change. Unfortunately, many of the societal barriers that women face also affect mission-driven organizations.
We like to think that organizations trying to do good are good by default, but it's not that simple. Organizations are products of the culture that creates them, often reflecting the very conditions they are supposed to be changing.
Even though women dominate the sector, they often lack power or recognition commensurate to their efforts. For example, women account for more than three-quarters of the nonprofit workforce, but they hold a minority of the highest leadership positions. In the biggest organizations, females fill 18% of the CEO positions. In the UK, it's 30%. In Canada, women make up 71% of all the CEO roles, though there is still under-representation at the very top.
In addition to a power gap, there's a wage gap. In the US, female CEOs at moderately-sized nonprofits earn 23% less than their male counterparts. In the UK, the gap is 18.8%. In Canada, women CEOs earn 17.5% less on average.*
Wage gaps in the nonprofit sector are bigger than the average wage gap for all sectors. In the US, women in all sectors earn 20% less than men. In the UK, they earn 15.5% less. In Canada, women earn an average of 13.3% less than men.
In short, the nonprofit sector performs worse than society at large. And most of these stats mask the significant gap between white women and women of colour. For example, ONN analysis suggests the average pay gap jumps to 34% for Indigenous women and 38% for other racialized women. That’s not okay.
Nonprofit workers already pay a financial penalty for doing work that society doesn't value as highly or that barely attracts enough support. A “normal” nonprofit salary is about 70% of the average salary in Canada. Women take another hit on top of that.
The gender gap isn’t just at the very top. A 2014 survey in the US found that 44% of nonprofit workers believe their organization is more like to promote men over equally qualified women into management roles. If we are under-promoting women into early management roles now, it means this problem is going to persist for years to come. Young females need equal advancement opportunities early in their careers so they can gain the experience they need to have equal access to leadership roles.
Around the world, women are going to work every day and doing hard work that makes society function better. That's amazing. They should never be made to feel that their efforts aren't appreciated or valued, just because they're the ones doing it.
Everyone who gives their time, money, and talents to make public interest work possible deserves recognition and gratitude. Today, that means women.
The 110th International Women's Day theme this year is to ChooseToChallenge inequality, call out bias, question stereotypes, and help forge an inclusive world. Do that.
Then, take a minute to picture yourself on International Women's Day 2022. What do you want to be celebrating one year from now? What stats do you want to see changed? What difference do you want to make in this world? Do that, too.