More than seven-in-ten women aged 18-to-34 endured at least one of 12 different types of discrimination in the past three years.
Vancouver, BC [March 18, 2022] – A sizeable proportion of women in British Columbia have experienced discrimination over the past three years, a new Research Co. poll has found.
In the online survey of a representative provincial sample, only 42% of women in British Columbia say they have not experienced discrimination on account of their gender in the past three years.
About one-in-four women in British Columbia (24%) have endured a “small amount” of discrimination, while 19% describe it as a “moderate amount” and 8% as a “significant amount.”
“Almost half of women in British Columbia aged 18-to-34 (46%) say they have experienced a moderate or significant amount of discrimination over the past three years,” says Mario Canseco, President of Research Co. “The proportion is markedly lower among women aged 35-to-54 (27%) and women aged 55 and over (11%).”
More than half of women in British Columbia (53%) recall experiencing at least one of 12 different types of discrimination tested in the survey—a proportion that rises to 72% among those aged 18-to-34 and to 59% among those with a university degree.
Over the past three years, at least one-in-five women in British Columbia endured poor customer service (25%), were the subject of sexist jokes (21%) or faced verbal harassment, such as slurs or catcalls (20%).
More than one-in-ten women in British Columbia experienced unfair treatment in the workplace (14%), were mocked or ridiculed because of their gender (14%) or endured sexual harassment (13%) in the past three years.
Fewer women reported six other types of discrimination: loss of potential employment opportunity (9%), exclusion from social groups within work (8%), violence or physical harassment (7%), exclusion from social groups within school (6%), denial of goods or services (4%) and denial of facilities or accommodation (also 4%).
Methodology: Results are based on an online study conducted from April 1 to April 5, 2022, among 650 adults in British Columbia who are employed full time or part time. The data has been statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age, gender and region in British Columbia. The margin of error, which measures sample variability, is +/- 3.9 percentage points, nineteen times out of twenty.
Find our data tables here and download the press release here.
For more information on this poll, please contact:
Mario Canseco, President, Research Co.
778.929.0490 [e] mario.canseco@researchco.ca