• Introduction
  • Current Projects
    • Occupational segregation trends in Canada
    • Family Contexts of Migrant Children: Language and Other Socioeconomic Inequalities
    • Care Work in Canada
    • Comparing Labour Market Vulnerabilities of Refugees in Canada: The Impacts of Entry Programs, Arrival Age and Gender
    • STEM Work: the Intersections of Gender, Race and Migrant Status
    • COVID19 and Vulnerable Populations
  • Carework Trends: 1991-2016
    • Classifying Care Across Time
    • Project Data for Download
    • Breakdown by Age Demographics 1991-2016
    • Visible Minority Demographics 1991-2016
    • Part-time Demographics 1991-2016
  • Selected publications by topic
  • Curriculum Vitae

Professor Monica Boyd

Department of Sociology, University of Toronto

STEM Work: the Intersections of Gender, Race and Migrant Status

The failure to examine the combined effects of gender and nativity and race for those who are STEM trained or hold STEM jobs is puzzling in light of the revolutionary rise in female labour force participation, the transformation of Canada into a diverse society, and the increased recruitment of highly skilled migrant labour in recent years. This research project adds gender and race/indigeneity to the existing discussions of the labour force integration of migrant workers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) occupations. The objectives are two-fold: first, using data from the 2016 census of Canada, I confirm the existence of the so called “double negative,” in which gender and immigrant statuses combine to produce disadvantage with respect to three core indicators of economic integration: 1) labour market participation; 2) employment in STEM jobs; and 3) in earnings. I also will examine the triply disadvantaged penalties of race and countries of origin alongside gender. In total, this research will provide greater specificity and nuance to the existing small body of research on STEM trainees and workers in Canada. Second, I ask if temporal changes exist in the gender-nativity-racial patterns of STEM training and employment, tracking these trends from 1996 on. This question focuses on the labour supply and labour utilization of STEM workers by nativity, race and gender over time. Do patterns of difference and inequality change over time? In addition, what are the effects of the Great Pandemic on the employment of women, racialized populations and migrants?

© 2020, University of Toronto Department of Sociology