When the System Takes and Doesn’t Give Back-Part 1

 

 When the Job Ad Asks for Everything — and Offers Very Little

Series: When the System Takes and Doesn’t Give Back

I saw a job ad the other day that made my stomach turn.

It asked for everything:

• Multiple certifications, including Infant/Toddler and Special Needs
• Years of experience in childcare, coaching, and consulting
• Trauma-informed and culturally competent practice
• Skill in conducting needs assessments, creating training materials, recruiting staff, liaising with partner organizations
• And of course — passion, compassion, commitment, collaboration, innovation

All for $26.74 an hour.
Part-time.
No benefits listed. No childcare provided. No support in sight.

This is the reality for so many people working in child care, social services, and community support roles — fields overwhelmingly staffed by women and immigrants. We are constantly told this work is “important” and “meaningful,” but the pay and conditions say: you’re lucky to be here.

And this isn’t a one-off.

It’s a pattern: roles that require everything from you emotionally, mentally, and physically — but offer little security, stability, or compensation in return. These are jobs held up by love and necessity, not fairness.

Women are expected to work full-time and raise kids. To run homes and care for aging parents. To be everything, everywhere, all at once — with no real help from the system.

Even some men — partners, co-parents — still expect women to do it all: bring home big wages and be the primary caregiver. Even in some communities where “traditional roles” once offered balance, the modern Canadian economy doesn’t care — every woman is expected to earn.

Meanwhile, to make that happen, Canada brought in thousands of Filipino women under the Live-In Caregiver Program. They left their own families to care for other people’s children — so those women could go to work. And now? Many of them, and many Canadian women, are expected to carry the next burden: elder care.

Alzheimer’s. Dementia. Chronic illnesses. Our elders are aging, and once again, the weight falls on women — whether in families or underpaid care roles. The work is demanding, exhausting, and deeply human. And yet it’s still not treated with dignity.

The truth is: the system runs on the backs of women. Always has.

And until we name that — and fight for better wages, supports, and recognition — it will keep asking for everything, and giving back nothing.