The gender wage gap is the difference in earnings between men and women. While progress has been made over the years on closing the gender wage gap, on average, women still do not earn as much as men.

Many factors contribute to the gender wage gap including differences between men and women in education levels, work experience, hours worked, unionization, and family and home responsibilities, as well as systemic discrimination. Pay equity recognizes that historically, women and men have tended to do different kinds of work. Work that has traditionally been performed by women has generally been undervalued and hence underpaid. The aim of pay equity is to close the part of the wage gap that is due to systemic gender discrimination in employer pay practices.

There are other forms of workplace gender discrimination, such as discriminatory hiring and promotion practices however these forms of discrimination are outside the jurisdiction of the Office. Other laws, such as the Employment Standards Act, 2000 and the Ontario Human Rights Code may offer remedies for other forms of workplace discrimination.