WUNRN
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
https://www.policyalternatives.ca/projects/making-women-count
Canada–Gender Equality Chapter of the 2015 Alternative Federal Budget of Canada, which shows why investing in women makes good fiscal sense and good public policy in Canada
Direct Link to Full 7-Page Text:
https://www.policyalternatives.ca/afb2015chapters/Gender_Equality.pdf
Canada - Gender Equality
Background
Canada used to rank first among
nations for gender equality. Today, Canada has fallen to 23rd place in the
United Nations’ Gender Inequality Index and 19th in the World
Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report.1 The slowdown in progress cannot be
ascribed to the global economic crisis. Canada’s economy was one of the least
affected among developed countries. In fact, as Canada’s gender equality rank
fell, some of the countries hardest hit by the global economic crisis
demonstrated progress.
Canada has made significant progress
in some areas. One-third of women in Canada now hold a post-secondary
certificate or diploma.2 Women in Canada have among
the highest healthy life expectancies
in the world.3 However, these high levels are not shared equally among women in
Canada. Significant gaps in educational attainment
persist between Aboriginal and
non-Aboriginal women and girls at all levels. While the number of Aboriginal
people with university degrees has nearly doubled over the last 10 years, with
9% of Aboriginal women holding a bachelor’s degree, the gap between
non-Aboriginal and Aboriginal people has continued to grow, as a result of
higher rates of non-Aboriginal people attending university.4
In spite of the significant
educational gains made by some women, they are underrepresented in leadership
roles in almost every sector.5 Women make up 14% of
members of corporate boards, for
example.6 Overall, men outnumber women amongst senior managers at a rate of
two-to-one.7 In the political arena, the numbers are much the same. The last
federal election saw the first significant increase in the percentage of female
members of Parliament in 20 years, rising from 22% to 25%.8
Progress in health and education has
not produced an equally steady level of progress in women’s economic security.
The percentage of women living in poverty is rising,
with over 13% of women living below the
Low Income Measure in Canada.9 The percentage of women living in
poverty has remained consistently higher than men’s levels
of poverty — with Aboriginal and
racialized women and women with disabilities further over-represented.10
The levels of violence women in
Canada experience remains persistently high. Over a million women in Canada
report having experienced either sexual assault or intimate partner violence in
the past five years.11Rates of intimate partner violence have fallen by a mere 1% over
the past two decades, with 6.2% of the adult population reporting having
experienced intimate partner violence today compared to 7.4% 10 years ago.
Rates of sexual assault have
increased slightly over the last 10 years, from 2.1% to 2.4%.12 Aboriginal
women experience three times the rates of violent victimization as
non-Aboriginal women. The violence
experienced by Aboriginal women and girls has been so persistent and so
disproportionate that it has spurred visits from several
multilateral bodies. There is a growing consensus on the need to conduct a national inquiry into missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls.13…….