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Gender, diversity and discrimination in the workplace

Workplace discrimination in Canada is a significant issue that affects a wide range of employees and has an impact on broader workplace culture. Discrimination in the workplace is experienced by many people from equity-deserving groups, including Indigenous peoples, women, racialized people, persons living with disabilities and 2SLGBTQ+ individuals. Intersectionality also plays a key role in how discriminatory practices affect people with multiple identities.

This study explores peoples experiences with discrimination in the workplace in Canada drawing on data from the Survey of Employment and Skills conducted by the Environics Institute for Survey Research, in partnership with the Future Skills Centre and the Diversity Institute at Toronto Metropolitan University. The survey was administered in six waves between 2020 and 2023 to a total of 34,740 participants. Overall, the survey asked about seven grounds for discrimination: age, gender, race or ethnicity, Indigenous identity (asked only to Indigenous respondents), disability, sexual orientation and religion.

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Key insights

Employers need to have clear and formal commitments to preventing discrimination in all its forms and to ensure they have strong and effective equity, diversity and inclusion strategies that are well understood and implemented. Tracking complaints and separations from the company also offer important signs regarding what is working and what is not.

Results show intersectionality is important as many groups face multiple layers of discrimination; for example, Black women, and younger women (18 to 34 years) are more likely than women overall to report experiences of workplace discrimination.

The results also show that, for some groups, those who report experiencing workplace discrimination tend also to report poorer mental health compared to their counterparts who do not report experiencing discrimination.

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