Editor:
Re: We need more than pay equity, March 31 letters.
I was troubled by the letter by Merrill Muttart, with respect to gender pay equity and gender education.
My understanding is that in Canada at least, pay equity gender discrimination is illegal under human rights and labour law. The Globe & Mail article mentioned refers to comments by a federal minister. Surely the government of Canada would insist on enforcing the law.
If they are not, why isn’t every greedy company or every underfunded government agency hiring only women, if they can be certain of equal production at a lower cost?
With respect to education, Stats Canada indicates the majority of college students and graduates in Canada are female.
This brings me to my main point. I believe that gender equality is a Canadian value, if not a worldwide human value. My experience travelling the world leads me to believe that some countries, cultures and religions don’t treat women as equals.
One of the candidates for the Canadian Conservative party has, as part of her platform, confirmation from prospective immigrants that they are onside with Canadian values.
Some commentators have labelled this position racist.
My question is this: Does being a feminist make one a racist in 2017?
Bob Holden, White Rock
• • •
I would like to thank Merrill Muttart for his courageous, insightful letter.
We do need more than pay equity,but this is not going to happen until we change our religious beliefs.
We need to restore the ancient Goddess to her rightful place. Women are created in the image of the Goddess. It should not be too difficult for people to accept the obvious.
Perhaps it is also time we stopped fighting religious wars, destroying ourselves and the beautiful planet we were given to live on.
Areta Evans, Surrey