Franklin v. University of Toronto

September 2001 article from the Varsity outlining a class-action lawsuit brought against the University. Four retired women faculty alleged the University paid women lower salaries than men. 

The Pay Gap Exists

Since the 1950s, efforts had been made to lessen the wage gap between men and women faculty at the University. Early pay equity investigations done by the University tried to compare the duties of women and men faculty members. However, only women faculty were asked to write down everything they did.

Reports and research led by women revealed that many were making less than men. Despite some closing of the gender pay gap, a 2001 report found that the University paid women faculty on average 20% less than men.

By 1989, the provincial government passed the Pay Equity Act. This meant businesses had to pay women a comparable salary to men. The University began to change the salaries of women and men to make them more equal. In 1991, the review raised the salaries of many women!

The first page of the Franklin v. University of Toronto class-action lawsuit. The case went to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in September 2001. 

Hear Us Out

Ursula Franklin, Blanche Lemco van Ginkel, Cicely Watson, and Phyllis Grosskurth launched a class-action lawsuit with University of Toronto alumni, Mary Eberts, as their lawyer. 

The Pay Equity act had raised the salaries of current University staff. Those who had retired however did not recieve this benefit. They had also been underpaid by the University for years.

Their longstanding careers and accomplishments went unappreciated. So they fought back.

The court heard the details of discrepancies in pay between women and men faculty in September 2001. In the end, the case was settled. The University retroactively raised the salaries of over sixty retired women, so their pensions were raised too.