The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on women’s working conditions and employment trajectories in Quebec: decline, progress or status quo?
We are pleased to announce that our colleagues Émilie Genin (prin.), Patrice Jalette and Mélanie Laroche, all professors in the School of Industrial Relations at Université de Montréal and members of CRIMT, have been awarded funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) under the Insight Grants program.
The COVID-19 pandemic, with all its socio-economic consequences, has raised fears that the progress made in gender equality will be significantly challenged (UN, 2020). This project proposes to study the effects of the crisis on various dimensions of professional equality in Quebec, both in unionized and non-unionized settings. The objectives are threefold. The first objective is to analyze the effects of COVID-19 on women’s working conditions (pay, work organization and job security) compared to men. The second objective is to document the effects of the pandemic on women’s employment trajectories (job retention and career development) compared to men. The third objective is to analyze how coping measures were adopted, either unilaterally by the employer or jointly with unions and employees. The project will examine differences between unionized and non-unionized workplaces in order to shed light on the role of social dialogue in managing labour market crises and in reducing gender inequalities.
This large-scale, multi-level and multi-actor project will enrich knowledge on the consequences of the pandemic on professional equality. It will provide important empirical and theoretical contributions to CRIMT’s reflection on the role of institutional experimentation (in this case, the various measures for adapting workplaces to the crisis) in the process of regulating and improving work (better work).
Congratulations to Émilie and her team for this important project and this major grant.
