Feminist employment law tips for employers

In honour of International Women's Day, tomorrow, here's a feminist employment law checklist for employers:

1️⃣ Are you promoting equal lengths of leaves among all parent employees?

2️⃣ Do you keep in touch with your employees who are away on pregnancy/parental leave, with notices about opportunities and changes?

3️⃣ Are you providing a genuine on-ramping process for parents returning from leave, keeping in mind that each parent's needs will be different, or are some managers accusing parents of skirting the mandatory in-office and face-time policies?

4️⃣ If you offer reduced hours and flexible work arrangements, are they encouraged equally for all employees (so that they don’t have to be disproportionately requested as accommodations by working moms)?

5️⃣ Does your sexual harassment training program actively dispel stereotypes about a “model victim”? Because people are complex, and while you may know that, some workers may not. A “flirtatious” smile is not an invitation. Joking back is not encouragement. Brushing it off is not consent. Even employees that cuss or hit back are entitled to protection from harassment.

6️⃣ Does your sexual harassment policy get at the fact that it’s about power, not sexual attraction? And since it’s about power, have you addressed how added layers of identity might increase the risks faced by some employees?

7️⃣ How about this for a rallying cry: yes, it absolutely is my business, your business, our business that a colleague is being abused at home. It’s happening in every workplace, right now. Your workers are probably feeling uncomfortable or confused about what to do, so you can train them on how to recognize and respond to signs of abuse in a way that protects the privacy and dignity of the survivor. And you’ll be ready to mitigate when time is of the essence.

8️⃣ Do you think about gender in creating any given document, policy, or program at work? Because you might be surprised to see how even floorplans and swag can have an adverse impact.

9️⃣ Have you taken a look at gender-disaggregated data for recent promotions, hires, salary increases, bonuses, hours of work, accommodations, and contract/casual/part-time vs permanent/full-time hires? Notice any patterns among the genders? Can they be explained with legitimate reasons?

🔟 Have you thought about how to include men in all of these things so that they don’t feel left out but confident in how to be an ally at work?

This definitely doesn’t cover everything, but it’s a start! And a big shout-out to all the amazing employers that are working on all of these things each and every day. Happy International Women’s Day, everyone.

Rika Sawatsky

Principal Lawyer

(related services: parental leave policy and administration; sexual harassment policies, programs, and training; workplace domestic violence; gender audits and assessments)