Not only is Canada’s national anthem about to become gender neutral, but one of its major current-affairs magazines is also attempting to do its part to stand up for equality — by having men pay more than women for its pay-equity issue.
On Thursday, Maclean’s revealed in an editorial that its newest issue features two different covers at two different prices: one at the higher-than-usual price of $8.81, the other at the regular cost of $6.99. The move, the magazine explained, was done to reflect the 26 percent pay gap between men and women in the country.
After years of stasis, pay equity is having its moment as the next beat in the cadence of the #MeToo movement. Our hope is that these dual covers stir the kind of urgent conversation here that is already happening elsewhere around the world.
The magazine went on to say that it’s aware that “setting a two-tiered magazine price for men and women reduces the complexity of gender.” But given that research into the transgender pay gap in Canada “is just beginning,” the $1.82 difference in cover prices is donated to those for whom the publication knows the pay gap is largest (namely, women of color and Indigenous women).
Much better than certain U.S. gender-equity covers we’ve seen lately.
