Illustration by Christy Lundy
At some of Canada’s most important public institutions – municipal and provincial governments, universities and publicly owned corporations – women are hitting the glass ceiling as mid-level managers, well below the executive level that attracts public scrutiny.
These taxpayer-funded or government-owned entities, which have an immeasurable impact on our day-to-day lives, are dominated by men, not just at the very top, but in multiple layers of leadership below that echelon. Of the few women who do break through, almost all are white.
These are the institutions that run regional transit; administer electrical utilities, internet and other essential services; control multibillion-dollar pension funds; and develop housing, health care and daycare policy. They regulate stock markets and investigate fraud. They run the lottery; sell alcohol and cannabis; promote tourism; and help entrepreneurs boost innovation. They’re responsible for educating the next generation and deciding which issues are worthy of tens of billions in research funding.
And at these vital public institutions, women are outnumbered and outranked by almost every measure.
This power gap – the gulf between where men and women stand in the work force – extends well beyond wages. Women’s voices, especially those of racialized women, are largely absent from many of the decision-making tables that shape nearly every facet of Canadians’ lives.
In an unprecedented analysis of hundreds of public-sector salary records – comprising about 90,000 employees – The Globe and Mail has found that women aren’t only underrepresented at the apex of the corporate ladder, but on the many rungs below, as supervisors, managers, senior managers, directors, executive directors and vice-presidents, as well as deans and professors.
In most cases, men made more than their female counterparts with the same title. Sometimes the difference was small – 1 or 2 per cent – but the gap steadily widened on the way to the top. (At publicly owned corporations, for example, women on executive teams made an average of 9 per cent less than the male executives.)
In every area examined by The Globe – municipal departments, provincial ministries, universities and publicly owned companies – there are more men earning six figures, more men on executive teams, more men running organizations and more men in the top one percentile of earners.
At that highest level – the one-percenters – only 27 per cent of employees are women, and of those, just 11 per cent are women of colour. This is what that looks like in raw numbers: 1,059 total employees; 289 women; 27 BIPOC women. (We could not determine the background of 41 women.)
This is the first in a series of stories that will examine the role of women in the workplace. The data focuses on the public sector because it is the only available workplace pay data in Canada. These numbers are meant to serve as a reference point to assess the rest of the labour force, and equity experts and economists who reviewed The Globe’s findings say the patterns are almost certainly replicated in the private sector.
A two-and-a-half year investigation by The Globe and Mail into the wage gap has revealed a bigger problem: The Power Gap between men and women at Canada’s public institutions. Investigative reporter Robyn Doolittle runs through some of the key takeaways of how and where men outnumber, outrank and out-earn women in Canada.
The Globe and Mail
Explore The Globe’s data on public sector employers, by topic
The Globe’s data, which took more than two years to collect and analyze, are connected to the 2017 and 2017-18 fiscal years. Today, after 10 months of economic devastation brought on by COVID-19, the situation is inevitably much worse.
In July, an RBC report found that women’s participation in the labour force had hit a 30-year low. Between February and October, RBC found that more than 20,000 Canadian women had dropped out of the labour force at the same time that nearly 68,000 men joined it.
Armine Yalnizyan, an economist and Atkinson Fellow on the Future of Workers, notes that, even for women who haven’t lost their jobs, the pandemic could affect the trajectory of their careers. COVID-19 has forced many women to take on additional care responsibilities. Some employers expect total devotion to work regardless of what that means for families and women, and they may penalize them for it, says Ms. Yalnizyan.
“Women are juggling unpaid care work of young children, unpaid homeschooling for school-age kids, and their jobs,” she says. “At some point, they are going to be losing traction in the pipelines for promotion. They might even lose their jobs. They might even voluntarily step back from paid work because they can’t juggle it all.”
Dawn Desjardins, RBC’s deputy chief economist, says the concern is that COVID-19 will undo the modest gains women have made in recent years, as more of them are forced to pause their careers to care for children or elderly relatives. “When you step away from the labour market,” she says, “you lose experience, your tenure, your position – what your normal track would have been if you’d been engaged throughout – that could lead to differences in your remuneration.”
In 2018, The Globe began collecting public-sector pay records for high-income earners across the country, focusing on four key areas: universities; civilian staff working for provincial ministries and departments; employees of 25 of the country’s largest cities; and those who work at Canada’s provincial public and Crown corporations. These entities are typically structured like private companies and operated independently, but ultimately owned by governments. (Public disclosure legislation only applies to those who earn above a specific threshold, usually $100,000. The federal government, the territories, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick do not disclose detailed information, so they could not be included.)
The Globe commissioned Statistics Canada to complete a gender analysis for this project (at a cost of $6,000). The Globe sent the federal agency a list of tens of thousands of first names from the disclosure lists.
Statistics Canada then assigned a gender probability to each name in five-point increments. For example: Michael is a male name 95 to 100 per cent of the time. (Quebec was analyzed separately from the rest of the country because of potential gender probability differences.) According to the agency, 90 per cent of names in Canada are associated with a specific gender at least 95 per cent of the time.
Any exceptionally rare names – those that belong to 20 or fewer individuals – were excluded from the analysis. When The Globe could not determine gender with 95-per-cent certainty, a data science analysis was performed to identify areas with the highest potential for volatility. The Globe then researched the gender of more than 1,000 employees (by contacting the individuals or using pronouns in official biographies and mainstream media reports) to resolve the vast majority of these issues.
While names are not a reliable indicator of race, The Globe contacted women in the top one percentile of earners at each entity, as well as women running organizations, to inquire about racial identity. (Read more about our methodology.)
The result is an unprecedented look at women in the public work force. For the first time, it’s possible to map out exactly where women are within individual organizations – the positions they hold, how much money they make and how many of them there are at each level on the way to the top.
By almost every measure, women fall short of men.
Overall representation of men vs. women
Men
Women
Publicly owned
corporations
76%
24%
65%
35%
Municipalities
Universities
61%
39%
Provincial
governments
61%
39%
Overall representation of men vs. women
Men
Women
Publicly owned
corporations
76%
24%
65%
35%
Municipalities
Universities
61%
39%
Provincial
governments
61%
39%
Overall representation of men vs. women
Men
Women
Publicly owned
corporations
76%
24%
65%
35%
Municipalities
Universities
61%
39%
Provincial
governments
61%
39%
Gender split among top leaders
(including CEOs, city managers, deputy ministers
and presidents)
Men
Women
Publicly owned
corporations
71%
29%
93%
7%
Municipalities
Universities
76%
24%
Provincial
governments
58%
42%
Gender split among top leaders
(including CEOs, city managers, deputy ministers
and presidents)
Men
Women
Publicly owned
corporations
71%
29%
93%
7%
Municipalities
Universities
76%
24%
Provincial
governments
58%
42%
Gender split among top leaders
(including CEOs, city managers, deputy ministers and presidents)
Men
Women
Publicly owned
corporations
71%
29%
93%
7%
Municipalities
Universities
76%
24%
Provincial
governments
58%
42%
Among The Globe’s findings:
• Men outnumbered women at 143 of the 171 organizations that disclosed detailed information. On average, they out-earned women at 117 entities (or 68 per cent of the time).
• Among “power positions” – the key decision makers within an organization, such as the executive leadership team and the president – men outnumbered women at 71 per cent of those entities. (In 10 per cent of cases, the representation was equal.)
Women and men in executive
‘power positions’
(including vice-presidents, commissioners,
associate deputy ministers and
executive directors)
Men
Women
Publicly owned
corporations
59%
41%
62%
38%
Municipalities
Universities
60%
40%
Provincial
governments
55%
45%
Women and men in executive ‘power positions’
(including vice-presidents, commissioners, associate
deputy ministers and executive directors)
Men
Women
Publicly owned
corporations
59%
41%
62%
38%
Municipalities
Universities
60%
40%
Provincial
governments
55%
45%
Women and men in executive ‘power positions’
(including vice-presidents, commissioners, associate
deputy ministers and executive directors)
Men
Women
Publicly owned
corporations
59%
41%
62%
38%
Municipalities
Universities
60%
40%
Provincial
governments
55%
45%
• With respect to executive salaries, men out-earned women among power positions at 59 per cent of those entities. Compensation was essentially the same – equal or within $300 – at 2 per cent of the organizations. (The Globe excluded the salary of the organization’s leader – for example, the president – from this average, because depending on their gender, it dramatically skewed the results.)
How much women make for every
dollar men make
90¢
92¢
94¢
96¢
98¢
Equal
$1.02
Provincial
governments
Municipalities
Publicly owned
corporations
Universities
How much women make for every
dollar men make
90¢
92¢
94¢
96¢
98¢
Equal
$1.02
Provincial
governments
Municipalities
Publicly owned
corporations
Universities
How much women make for every dollar men make
90¢
92¢
94¢
96¢
98¢
Equal
$1.02
Provincial
governments
Municipalities
Publicly owned
corporations
Universities
• As for the top job, men were at the helm of 76 per cent of those institutions, excluding provincial governments. Of the six provincial governments included in the dataset, there were 136 deputy ministers, the top civilian position; of those, 59 per cent were men. (Governments of Manitoba, which did not release first names, and Quebec, which only discloses the most senior employees, could not be analyzed.) Among organizations that had a woman in the top job, only six – or 16 per cent – were led by BIPOC women. Three deputy ministers were BIPOC women. The Globe was unable to determine the racial identity of six top women leaders.
• To better assess where women were in each organization, The Globe divided each workplace into salary bands. Large organizations were assessed with 10 levels, and smaller ones (entities with fewer than 100 high-income employees) were evaluated with five. At the vast majority of organizations, women were not evenly distributed across the salary bands. Most of the time, they were concentrated in the lower levels, and from there, their numbers declined. At the first salary band, women made up at least half of all employees at 72 out of 171 entities. But by the top bracket, only 32 organizations were at least evenly split. Most of the time, women were outnumbered at least two to one by that point.
• The drop-off of women markedly accelerated about one-third of the way to the top.
Percentage of women at different
salary bands
Provincial
governments
Municipalities
100
75
50
25
0
Publicly owned
corporations
Universities
100
75
50
25
0
Lower
salary
Higher
salary
Percentage of women at different salary bands
Provincial
governments
Municipalities
100
75
50
25
0
Publicly owned
corporations
Universities
100
75
50
25
0
Lower
salary
Higher
salary
Percentage of women at different salary bands
Provincial
governments
Publicly owned
corporations
Municipalities
Universities
100
75
50
25
0
Lower
salary
Higher
salary
• At about 10 per cent of entities, women’s representation notably surged in the highest salary band. Experts who reviewed The Globe’s findings posited that this could be an example of organizations making efforts to diversify staff at the level that was most public.
• Some of the most dramatic power gaps were found at municipal governments and universities. In the top salary band, women were outnumbered at least four to one in the cities of Winnipeg, Brampton, Ont., and Vaughan, Ont., as well as at 19 universities, including the University of Windsor, the University of Ottawa, the University of Alberta, Brock University, the University of Waterloo, Western University, the University of Toronto and several other, smaller schools.
• Government-owned corporations, overall, were the worst performers. Men outnumbered women at 59 of the 81 companies. At the executive level, women outnumbered men at only 17 entities. (In nine cases, representation was evenly split between genders, and three did not have power positions to analyze.) At the two largest corporations, Manitoba Hydro and Ontario Power Generation, men accounted for 93 per cent of employees in the top 10 percentile of earners.
Entities with the lowest representation
of women at the highest salary band
% who are women, by salary band
Manitoba
Hydro
Ontario Power
Generation
Lower
salary
Higher
salary
Lower
salary
Higher
salary
100
75
50
25
0
City of
Winnipeg
Acadia
University
100
75
50
25
0
Sask. Power
Corp.
University of
Lethbridge
100
75
50
25
0
University of
Windsor
University of
Ottawa
100
75
50
25
0
St. Francis Xavier
University
City of
Brampton
100
75
50
25
0
University of
Alberta
Mount Royal
University
100
75
50
25
0
Entities with the lowest representation
of women at the highest salary band
% who are women, by salary band
Manitoba
Hydro
Ontario Power
Generation
Lower
salary
Higher
salary
Lower
salary
Higher
salary
100
75
50
25
0
City of
Winnipeg
Acadia
University
100
75
50
25
0
Sask. Power
Corp.
University of
Lethbridge
100
75
50
25
0
University of
Windsor
University of
Ottawa
100
75
50
25
0
St. Francis Xavier
University
City of
Brampton
100
75
50
25
0
University of
Alberta
Mount Royal
University
100
75
50
25
0
Entities with the lowest representation of women
at the highest salary band
% who are women, by salary band
Manitoba
Hydro
Ontario Power
Generation
City of
Winnipeg
Acadia
University
100
75
50
25
0
Sask. Power
Corp.
University of
Lethbridge
University of
Windsor
University of
Ottawa
100
75
50
25
0
St. Francis Xavier
University
University of
Alberta
City of
Brampton
Mount Royal
University
100
75
50
25
0
Lower
salary
Higher
salary
• Even in female-dominated workplaces – where women outnumbered men among six-figure earners – they struggled to rise. Only 24 organizations out of 171 had more women on their sunshine lists. Of those, only 11 also had more women on their leadership teams. (In four cases, the split was even, and two had no executives to analyze.)
• Women of colour were dramatically underrepresented among the top 1 percentile of earners. Of the handful who did make it, their average salaries sometimes skewed higher than white women; because their numbers were so low, individuals could significantly swing percentages. In the corporations, white women made 6 per cent less than racialized women – but they outnumbered women of colour nine to one. At the provincial level, white women made 6 per cent less, while outnumbering racialized women nine to one. And at universities, white women were paid the same, but outnumbered women of colour six to one. Municipalities were the exception. Here, white women earned slightly more – the gap was 2 per cent – and they also outnumbered racialized women 14 to one.
Women in the top 1 percentile
1,059
People within the top 1 percentile of earners
289
of them are women
We could not determine the background of 41 women.
27
of those women are BIPOC
Women in the top 1 percentile
1,059
People within the top 1 percentile of earners
289
of them are women
We could not determine the background of 41 women.
27
of those women are BIPOC
Women in the top 1 percentile
1,059
People within the top 1 percentile of earners
289
of them are women
We could not determine the background of 41 women.
27
of those women are BIPOC
• The Globe separately analyzed six individual job titles associated with management positions, as well as four titles in academia. The gender split varied between entities, but the broad trend was that in 67 per cent of cases, organizations paid the men more money than women at the same level.
Proportion of men and women
in management roles
Men
Women
Provincial
governments
Municipalities
5
5
Vice-
presidents
Not common
in this pillar
50%
50%
297
217
22
16
Executive
directors
58%
42%
58%
42%
993
857
374
267
Directors
54%
46%
58%
42%
152
126
46
25
Senior
managers
55%
45%
65%
35%
975
959
934
757
Managers
50%
50%
55%
45%
171
44
591
236
Supervisors
80%
20%
71%
29%
Publicly owned
corporations
Universities
169
112
228
152
Vice
Presidents
60%
40%
60%
40%
102
126
47
29
Executive
directors
45%
55%
62%
38%
716
764
523
372
Directors
48%
52%
58%
42%
37
38
206
140
Senior
managers
49%
51%
60%
40%
265
196
774
503
Managers
57%
43%
61%
39%
Not common
in this pillar
Not common
in this pillar
Supervisors
Proportion of men and women
in management roles
Men
Women
Provincial
governments
Municipalities
5
5
Vice-
presidents
Not common
in this pillar
50%
50%
297
217
22
16
Executive
directors
58%
42%
58%
42%
993
857
374
267
Directors
54%
46%
58%
42%
152
126
46
25
Senior
managers
55%
45%
65%
35%
975
959
934
757
Managers
50%
50%
55%
45%
171
44
591
236
Supervisors
80%
20%
71%
29%
Publicly owned
corporations
Universities
169
112
228
152
Vice
President
60%
40%
60%
40%
102
126
47
29
Executive
directors
45%
55%
62%
38%
716
764
523
372
Directors
48%
52%
58%
42%
37
38
206
140
Senior
managers
49%
51%
60%
40%
265
196
774
503
Managers
57%
43%
61%
39%
Not common
in this pillar
Not common
in this pillar
Supervisors
Proportion of men and women in management roles
Men
Women
Provincial
governments
Publicly owned
corporations
Municipalities
Universities
5
5
228
152
169
112
Not common
in this pillar
Vice-
presidents
50%
50%
60%
40%
60%
40%
22
16
297
217
47
29
102
126
Executive
directors
58%
42%
58%
42%
62%
38%
45%
55%
374
267
993
857
523
372
716
764
Directors
58%
42%
54%
46%
58%
42%
48%
52%
46
25
152
126
206
140
37
38
Senior
managers
65%
35%
55%
45%
60%
40%
49%
51%
934
757
975
959
774
503
265
196
Managers
55%
45%
50%
50%
61%
39%
57%
43%
591
236
171
44
Not common
in this pillar
Not common
in this pillar
Supervisors
71%
29%
80%
20%
• Out of the four areas examined, provincial governments showed the smallest power gap. There was very little wage disparity, and they had the most even gender representation. Of the six that release detailed information, overall representation ranged from 38 per cent (Ontario) to 47 per cent (Newfoundland). At the executive level – deputy ministers, assistant deputy ministers and associate deputy ministers – women fared even better, from 38 per cent (Alberta) to 65 per cent (Nova Scotia). The gender divide did show up at the individual department level. Transportation, infrastructure, finance, energy, environment and agriculture were typically more male-dominated, while women performed best in ministries responsible for advanced education, education, health, justice and culture, although the results varied by jurisdiction.
Gender split by major provincial
governments departments
(%)
B.C. overall
Men
41
59
Women
Alta.
Sask.
Ont.
43
57
Overall
38
62
42
58
20
Transportation
80
N/A
33
67
30
Infrastructure
70
45
18
55
82
27
Energy
73
N/A
35
65
27
73
Environment
41
59
15
85
Municipal
Affairs
29
71
N/A
49
51
Agriculture
and Fisheries
35
65
49
51
40
60
42
Culture
58
62
38
36
64
Advanced
Education
44
56
59
41
39
61
47
53
Finance
48
52
37
63
47
53
Justice
54
46
42
58
55
Education
45
60
40
55
45
57
Health
43
55
45
63
37
N.S.
N.L.
Overall
47
53
45
55
Transportation
and
Infrastructure
Transportation
33
67
Infrastructure
15
85
N/A
Energy
N/A
36
64
Environment
and Municipal
Affairs
Environment
53
47
Municipal
Affairs
32
68
35
65
Agriculture
and Fisheries
30
70
38
62
Culture
75
50
25
50
Advanced
Education
60
40
56
44
Finance
37
63
39
61
Justice
54
46
46
54
*Data omitted due to the low number of individuals.
Education
63
37
Health
44
66
56
34
Gender split by major provincial
governments departments
(%)
B.C. overall
Men
41
59
Women
Alta.
Sask.
Ont.
43
57
Overall
38
62
42
58
20
Transportation
80
N/A
33
67
30
Infrastructure
70
45
18
55
82
27
Energy
73
N/A
35
65
27
73
Environment
41
59
15
85
Municipal
Affairs
29
71
N/A
49
51
Agriculture
and Fisheries
35
65
49
51
40
60
42
Culture
58
62
38
36
64
Advanced
Education
44
56
59
41
39
61
47
53
Finance
48
52
37
63
47
53
Justice
54
46
42
58
55
Education
45
60
40
55
45
57
Health
43
55
45
63
37
N.S.
N.L.
Overall
47
53
45
55
Transportation
and
Infrastructure
Transportation
33
67
Infrastructure
15
85
N/A
Energy
N/A
36
64
Environment
and Municipal
Affairs
Environment
53
47
Municipal
Affairs
32
68
35
65
Agriculture
and Fisheries
30
70
38
62
Culture
75
50
25
50
Advanced
Education
60
40
56
44
Finance
37
63
39
61
Justice
54
46
46
54
*Data omitted due to the low number of individuals.
Education
63
37
Health
44
66
56
34
Gender split by major provincial governments departments
(%)
B.C. overall
Men
41
59
Women
Alta.
Sask.
Ont.
N.S.
N.L.
43
57
Overall
47
53
45
55
38
62
42
58
Transportation
and
Infrastructure
20
Transportation
80
33
67
N/A
33
67
30
Infrastructure
70
15
85
45
N/A
18
55
82
27
Energy
73
N/A
N/A
36
64
35
65
Environment
and Municipal
Affairs
27
73
Environment
53
41
47
59
15
85
Municipal
Affairs
29
71
32
68
35
65
N/A
49
51
Agriculture
and Fisheries
35
65
30
70
38
62
49
51
40
60
42
Culture
58
75
50
25
50
62
38
36
64
Advanced
Education
44
60
56
40
56
44
59
41
39
61
47
53
Finance
37
63
39
61
48
52
37
63
47
53
Justice
54
46
46
54
54
46
42
58
*Data omitted due to the low number of individuals.
55
Education
45
63
37
60
40
55
45
57
Health
43
44
66
56
55
34
45
63
37
• The Globe collected data from an additional 73 entities in Quebec, but with the exception of the City of Montreal, organizations in this province only disclose information for their most senior employees. As a result, they were excluded from the wider salary analysis. What can be said, is that of those entities, men outnumbered women among the senior ranks two-thirds of the time and 67 per cent had a man in the top job. (Montreal agreed to release the first — but not last — names of its employees so we could complete the gender analysis.)
• The salary gap between men and women at the very top of an organization was significant: In the corporations, female chief executive officers earned 22 per cent less than male CEOs. Only two of the 25 cities reviewed had female city managers, and they were paid 9 per cent less than male counterparts elsewhere. At universities, female presidents made 11 per cent less than the male presidents. Provincial governments were the only exception: Male and female deputy ministers earned virtually identical salaries.
(At The Globe and Mail, an analysis of similar data show there is work to be done, according to publisher Phillip Crawley. The publisher and editor-in-chief are men. At the company executive level – which includes the editorial and business side – there are four men and four women below the publisher. None are people of colour. On the masthead, the top editors below the editor-in-chief, the gender split is five men and five women. Everyone is white. At the management level below the executives – the director level and senior leadership – 52 per cent are women and 21 per cent identify as BIPOC. As for the staff overall, about one-quarter are people of colour; half are women. Among those who earn more than $100,000, the wage gap is 4 per cent. Mr. Crawley has said improving racial diversity, especially in positions of leadership, is a priority in the coming year and beyond.)
Nicole Fortin is an economist with the University of British Columbia and one of the country’s leading researchers on the wage gap between men and women. Prof. Fortin analyzes salary disparities at different earning echelons, which highlights how women are disappearing on the way to the top.
“I am very interested in whether women are getting their promotions,” she says.
The data suggest they aren’t – and that can become a self-perpetuating problem. A study of white-collar workplaces in Norway looked at the spill-over effects of having women bosses at different organizational ranks. It found that women in lower levels were more likely to be promoted if the next-highest rank had strong female representation.
Prof. Fortin says what is especially notable about the Norwegian study is that it focuses on the impact of gender representation throughout the work force – not just at the very top. Gender diversity, she says, “doesn’t work as well when it is confined to the higher echelons. It has to be more on the middle management.”
The Globe’s data come with many caveats. Of the 89,423 names analyzed for this story, the gender of 11 per cent could not be determined. While these unknown names had little to no impact on results in the vast majority of cases, there will always be some risk for error. (The Globe removed three entities where volatility appeared to be in excess of 10 percentage points.)
Drilling down further, in assessing the wage gap and representation at the executive level or in specific jobs, there are sometimes reasonable explanations for why the disclosure shows men earning more. Perhaps a female vice-president began that job partway through the year, so only half of her annual salary is showing up. This works the other way, too, with men moving between jobs or taking leaves. In one organization, a woman at the executive level was earning dramatically more than her male peers. Her salary drove up the average for all women at that level. It turned out she had left the organization the previous year, and this was a payout.
While there might be individual innocent anomalies, the broad trend is clear.
Fay Faraday, an assistant professor at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School and the co-chair of the Equal Pay Coalition, says this is the issue when trying to tackle gender discrimination: There’s almost always a way to justify why one individual should get a job over another or why one person should make more than a colleague. The scope of the problem is only visible when taking in the full picture.
“Often the resistance to recognizing that discrimination exists is because people look at it in terms of one individual’s experiences. But these are systemic and structural things,” she says. “When you look collectively, how do you deny what’s happening?”
With reporting and research from Andrew Saikali, Stephanie Chambers, Tavia Grant, Denise Balkissoon and Tu Thanh Ha.
ADDITIONAL CREDITS
- Story editing: Dawn Calleja
- Design and art direction: Ming Wong
- Web design and development: Christopher Manza
- Illustration and graphics: Murat Yükselir
- Photo editing: Theresa Suzuki
- Data science consulting and verification: Lola Abduvaitova
- Data science consulting: Shengqing Wu
- Data verification: Tom Cardoso
- Michael Pereira also contributed to the project