On International Women’s Day, CMG celebrates women’s achievements in our workplaces and in our union. We also join with all those seeking progress for women in all walks of life and for society as a whole.

Helen Bagshaw, CMG Vice-President, reflects on her experience and how much has changed since her early career in sports at CBC/Radio-Canada starting in 1991. 

“At the time, women journalists were still excluded from some locker rooms, there were no professional women’s sports teams and women’s hockey was not in the Olympics.  As a girl, growing up in the 1970s I didn’t know any girls who played hockey.  

Fast forward to 2025, it’s clear there is viability and support for professional sports for women (WNBA, PWHL and the Northern super League of soccer). There are many female analysts and journalists covering men’s and women’s professional sports. It’s taken a while but it’s great to see.”

Although women have achieved significant wins in Canadian media, there’s room for more progress.

The Canadian Association of Journalists notes in their 2022 Diversity Report that it is important to consider that women and nonbinary people remain underrepresented in leadership roles in newsrooms and overrepresented in part-time roles. Women make up 59.4 per cent of part-time roles and 58 per cent of interns, while they only make up 49.5 per cent of supervisors and 48.2 per cent of full-time employees. Only 0.2 per cent of supervisors identify as non-binary, compared to 2.5 per cent of interns.

The Canadian Women’s Foundation suggested three ways that companies and governments can take to help close the gender pay gap: 

• Ongoing audits of compensation and gendered advancement opportunities,
• Prioritization of workplace flexibility, especially for mothers and caregivers,
• And implementation of pay transparency policies.

And what can CMG members do to support women and non-binary people in Canadian Media? Lean In provides some suggestions on how to be a workplace ally:

• Consider sitting front-and-center and speaking up in meetings – and encourage other women+ to do same. Notice when colleagues are struggling to contribute to a conversation and use that as opportunity to open the conversation up to hear other points of view.
• Women are often given less credit for successful outcomes and blamed more for failure. When introducing female+ coworkers, highlight their credentials and accomplishments.
• Women tend to underestimate their abilities due to a need to work harder to face an uneven playing field at work. Look for opportunities to boost other women’s confidence and encourage them to go for opportunities.
• Give women direct feedback, with specific recommendations on how they can improve their performance to help them continue building skills.
• Mentor and sponsor other women in the workplace and even within union-related roles.

The CMG invites members to submit their questions related to gender pay equity as we continue to develop resources for members. What do you wish you knew to navigate the workplace better or when negotiating contracts? Send your thoughts to info@cmg.ca