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May 2000
Bringing Down the Barriers: The labour market and women with disabilities in Ontario
For persons with disabilities, employment is the best defense against poverty. Having a job can also be important in building self-esteem, and it helps contribute to full citizenship. However, women with disabilities often face unique barriers to employment.
Bringing down the Barriers combines the personal experiences of Ontario women with disabilities along with statistical information to provide a new assessment of some of the labour market challenges that they might face.
Who are women with disabilities?
In 1995, more than half a million adult women in Ontario had a disability and about 59% of those were of working age (aged 15 to 64). Among working-age women with disabilities, 13% live alone and another 10% live as single parents. Only 8% of Ontario women with disabilities who worked full-time and for a full year in 1995 were poor, but 40% of women with disabilities who were not employed at all were poor.
Daily life for women with disabilities
Women with disabilities have the highest rates for chronic stress of any group. Single mothers with disabilities have the highest stress levels of all. More than half of working-age Canadian women with disabilities spend at least 15 hours each week doing housework. Among single mothers with disabilities, this figure is nearly 80%. "I do all my own housework, but it takes me 10 times longer than it did before I was in a wheelchair." Less than 3 in 10 women with disabilities receive help preparing meals, compared to more than 7 in 10 men with disabilities who have such assistance.
More than 1 in 3 single mothers with disabilities run out of money for food at least once a year. About 1 in 10 women with disabilities who have a stable year-round job run out of money for food at least once a year. Nearly 2 in 10 of those without a job face this problem. "With all the cutbacks, it's really scary. I'm a single parent. I don't want my kids to go hungry and live in a cardboard box." For some Franco-Ontarian women and some ethno-racial women with disabilities, linguistic and cultural differences can act as a barrier to services that might be available to help them.
How do women with disabilities fare in the labour force?
Women with disabilities are far less likely to have a job or to be looking for a job than women without disabilities. Throughout 1993 and 1994, less than half of working-age women with disabilities were in the labour force at some point, compared to 85% of women without disabilities. Nearly 7 in 10 women with disabilities who were in the labour force at some point during 1993 and 1994 either dropped out of the labour market or were involuntarily unemployed for a while. Among their non-disabled counterparts, only 2 in 10 experienced this kind of work instability. In 1994, about 38% of women with disabilities who had a job all year - either full-time or part-time - ranked among the lowest 20% of all earners.
Barriers to the workplace
Women's daily realities present unique obstacles
Women with disabilities face many of the same employment barriers as those confronting men with disabilities. But because women's daily reality is often different than men's, they can also face unique obstacles. For example:
Women with disabilities are more likely than men to live as single parents. "I do volunteer work several days a week. I wish I could have a salary, but instead I rely on CPP and can only earn so much or they will cut me off. I'm a single mom with 3 kids. It's OK for me to risk losing my income, but it's not just me that I have to worry about. I can't put my kids at risk like that. I'm trapped." Although many women with disabilities are responsible for an important part of their household income, they may have fewer opportunities than men to find stable and well-paying jobs. Compared to men with disabilities, women are less likely to have assistance with household tasks. Yet experience shows that having help with household tasks can help women with disabilities to get and keep a job. "I've been working full-time for the last 20 years. Because of my disability, I am eligible for paid assistance with housework. The reason I have the ability to work is that I have the time and energy." Women with disabilities are more likely than their male counterparts to cite family responsibilities as the main reason they are not in the labour force. Difficulties finding accessible and affordable child care can be a major challenge for mothers with disabilities. "I can't use Wheel Trans to take my son to day care because the day care hours are so inflexible that it just won't work with my schedule."
Inflexible income support programs
Income support programs like social assistance and disability pensions can act as a trap for both women and men with disabilities. Some programs have rules that eliminate or reduce benefits for supports such as medication and home care once a person finds a job. This makes it difficult for women with disabilities to leave these income support programs, even though their monthly benefit cheque may be low. Single mothers with disabilities experience these barriers more than anyone else.
"They don't understand why you won't take a minimum-wage job, but when you get a job, you lose most or all of your benefits. They take away your drug card. You may have to use a large part of your salary for medication just to keep going."
Many women with disabilities say they have had trouble getting back onto a benefit program when they have lost their job or have been unable to continue working due to a change in their disability.
"It's a vicious circle. If you get a job and become ill, you are left wondering: Will I get my disability pension back?"
Not enough personal and social supports
Insufficient personal supports can also hinder women with disabilities from seeking employment.
"I had to fight to get homecare to come in twice a week to help me have a bath. Do you know what it's like going for a job interview a few days after your last bath?"
Isolation is a problem encountered by some women with disabilities. Because support from a partner, parent, sibling, friend or support group can help boost the self-confidence of women with disabilities, isolation acts as a barrier to the labour market. Having a support system can also provide women with useful contacts for training and employment opportunities.
Negative public attitudes
Both women and men cite negative attitudes towards people with disabilities as one of the most powerful barriers to their employment. Many people feel that if these negative attitudes could be changed, many of the more concrete barriers would be more evident and greater efforts would be made to eliminate the barriers. People need to look past the disabilities to find the abilities.
"People look at my disability and they hear my speech. I can't leave those things in the waiting room when I go for an interview."
Ethno-racial women with disabilities report that it is difficult to know whether the discrimination they experience is due to their disability, gender, race - or all three.
What can we do?
Governments, employers and community groups can all make a difference. They can:
Ensure that disability supports and services are available to all those who need them, regardless of employment status or income. Ensure that the level of income support is adequate. Recognize that accessible transportation, child care, and home supports are essential employment supports to people with disabilities. Make income support programs more flexible so that people can move more easily between paid employment and the income support programs. Provide the public with more information about people with disabilities. Create more opportunities for people with disabilities to participate in support groups and information sessions.
All individuals in society can help make a difference. We all can:
Help to eliminate negative stereotypes and discrimination by making our communities and workplaces more inclusive of persons with disabilities. Invite women with disabilities to participate in women's groups and community activities.
Some other sources of disability-related information:
We encourage you to distribute this brochure widely in your community and beyond.
Related Material
Canadian Council on Social Development,
190 O'Connor Street, Suite 100,
Ottawa, Ontario, K2P 2R3
Tel: (613) 236-8977, Fax: (613) 236-2750, Web: www.ccsd.ca, Email: council@ccsd.ca
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