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Bringing Down the Barriers:
The Labour Market and Women with Disabilities in Ontario

by Gail Fawcett

     

Introduction

In Ontario, over half a million adult women have a disability and almost one in three of these women lives in poverty¹. The best defense against poverty for persons with disabilities is employment, but women with disabilities also have one of the lowest rates of labour force participation of any group of adults in the province.

In addition, the rate of disability increased between 1991 and 1996 in Ontario and across Canada. Some of the largest increases in Ontario were among women – in particular, women aged 35 to 44 experienced a 29 per cent increase in their disability rate². This means that an increasing proportion of women are also likely to live in poverty unless they can obtain well-paying jobs.

This report provides the most up-to-date statistics available on working-age women with disabilities. Of particular interest to those who work at the community level are the statistics at the Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) level³ within Ontario. Integrating quantitative research with qualitative research, this report provides insights into the complex interplay of factors that create employment barriers for women with disabilities. While women and men with disabilities are typically both affected by the same barriers to employment, they are not always affected to the same degree or in the same way. Because of both their gender and their disability, women often face a unique obstacle course when trying to navigate their way through the world of paid work.

With one of the lowest rates of labour force success and one of the highest rates of poverty, women with disabilities stand out as a group in need of greater opportunities for employment. This report comes at a time when programs and policies in Ontario and across Canada are changing and evolving in response to In Unison, the latest vision paper for persons with disabilities.

Section 1 examines the 1998 vision document In Unison, which sets out a guiding framework for change in the area of disability policy in Canada. Statistics from the 1996 Census are presented for Canada, Ontario and various Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) within Ontario. These statistics provide a general overview of the employment patterns, poverty levels and the relationship between the two for women and men with and without disabilities.

While Census data allow an examination of general patterns at a very detailed level of geography – such as patterns within a province or CMA – other national survey databases are used in Section 2 in order to explore in greater detail why these patterns might exist. Due to the smaller sample sizes of these other national databases, however, analysis is only possible at the national level.

Section 2 examines a number of factors which, when combined, may hinder the labour force success for women with disabilities. Part A focuses on the complex interplay of factors that create hidden barriers for women with disabilities living alone or as single parents. These include the high degree of financial responsibility and job instability, food shortages and lower earnings power that they experience compared to men. Women’s experiences in their own words are also included⁴. The importance of two of the major building blocks of In Unison, employment and income, are underscored in this part.

In Part B of Section 2, we review how home life and the physical environment affect the participation in the labour market of women with disabilities. The importance of disability-related supports in employment, which is the final building block of In Unison, is examined here.

This section shows that disability-related supports and services that make paid employment a possibility are needed not just in the workplace, but also in the home. It is here that women with disabilities tend to be more vulnerable to these barriers than their male counterparts, often in very subtle ways.

Section 3 discusses the barriers to employment for women with disabilities that are created by social attitudes. Attitudes were ranked by focus group participants as the most significant barrier they faced when trying to get and keep a job. While we lack large-scale survey data about attitudes toward persons with disabilities, this issue demands mention because of the degree of importance placed on it by all participants.

This report integrates statistical data and the voices of women with disabilities themselves to provide an explanation of what lies behind the statistics. This is a story of frustration, rejection, poverty and traps. It is also a story of endurance, courage and irrepressible spirits. Finally, this report suggests some strategies which could be implemented to overcome the barriers identified in the research.

This report is also intended to act as a resource for disability groups and community organizations. It contains some of the most recent statistics available on persons with disabilities and provides some important statistical information at the Census Metropolitan Area level within Ontario. This type of information is often requested by community groups as they shape and devise initiatives at the community level.

Finally, it is hoped that this material will provide women with disabilities themselves with a valuable resource. The individuals involved in our focus groups across Ontario are owed a debt of gratitude, as they provided us with a clearer interpretation of the statistics that we had generated and helped to put a human face on the numbers. As the focus groups progressed, it became evident that many women with disabilities need to know that they are not alone. Forums for the exchange of information and human support from others are an integral part of achieving full citizenship for all persons with disabilities.

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