Women in BC are slowly closing the wage gap, unlike the rest of the country. A new study by the Chartered Accountants of BC shows the earnings gap between men and women has been improving our province since 1992. The study shows in 1999 BC women earned 73.8% of what men took home in pay. That is compared to 70.1% in 1992.

In Alberta, female workers earned only 65.7% of male earnings in 1999, compared to 70.3% in 1992. And similarly, in Ontario, the female to male earnings ratio declined from 72% in 1992 to 70.9% in 1999.

The study also found that only 7.9% of BC women earned more than $50,000 per year in 1999, compared to 25.3% of men.

So why is the wage gap closing in BC, but no where else? More male-oriented industries are suffering in Alberta and Ontario.

...the explanation behind that is...in Alberta they're very focused on the oil and gas industry, and in Ontario, very focused on the manufacturing sectors - which are heavily dominated by men in high paying jobs. Whereas here in BC, we've seen a decline in the resource industries in recent years, and a significant upswing in industries such as tourism and high tech - where there's a lot of women partaking in those industries and a lot more equality in terms of what people are earning for a particular job.