Women in Canada

Women have a long history of active involvement in all aspects of Canadian life. In 1918, after a long struggle, they won the universal right to vote in federal elections. In 1929, they helped overturn a previous court ruling that barred women from appointments to the Senate on the grounds that they were not "persons" within the meaning of the law.

There have been remarkable changes to society and to the lives of Canadian women since then. In 1929, less than 4 percent of women worked outside the home. In 1999, 55 percent of women had paid work, compared to 67 percent of men. Women are marrying later and having fewer children, and more women are living alone. The majority of families with children have dual earners now, about 22 percent have one parent at home, and 19 percent are headed by lone-parents.

The face of Canada has changed in other ways too. By 1996, the percentage of visible minorities in Canada had climbed to over 11 percent and immigrants represented over 17 percent of the population. In both these groups, there are slightly more women.

Women's life expectancy is higher than men's but they also report long-term disabilities to a slightly greater extent than men. The leading cause of death for women and men is diseases of the circulatory system, although women may have different symptoms and reactions to drugs and other treatment. Violence against women is a continuing concern. When men are victims of violence the offender is usually an acquaintance or a stranger, but for violence against women, the offender is more likely to be a family member.

Women and the Economy

Women and men in Canada have similar total workloads but men spend most of their time, 4.5 hours a day, in paid work, and 2.7 hours in unpaid work. For women, the statistics are reversed, with 2.8 hours in paid work and 4.4 hours in unpaid work. The top three categories of people with the highest workloads, over ten hours each day, are married mothers, married fathers, and female lone-parents, all of whom have a paid job and a child under five years of age. After having a baby, 86 percent of employed mothers return to their jobs within one year.

In 1999, women accounted for 46 percent of the labour force, and most of them work full-time. Women still tend to be concentrated in certain occupations, many of which are low-paying. In 1996, 70 percent of women were in teaching, nursing and related health services, clerical, administrative, sales and service occupations. However, women now also make up almost half of our doctors, dentists, and financial and business professionals.

In 1999, 41 percent of employed women aged 15-64 had a non-standard work arrangement. Women make up about 70 percent of part-time workers. In 1999, 13 percent of women were self-employed, up from 9 percent in 1976; they account for 35 percent of all self-employed workers. Almost 30 percent of self-employed women have employees, reflecting a growth in women-owned businesses of over 50 000 between 1989 and 1999.

Women have made significant gains in education. Overall, in 1996, 12 percent of women had a university degree compared to 14 percent of men, almost 18 percent of women had a certificate or diploma and 15 percent graduated high school. Women represented 55 percent of all full-time university students in 1997-1998. They are the majority in most fields of study and their numbers are growing, even in male-dominated fields.

Women's incomes are increasing along with their education and labour force participation. In 1997, the earnings of full-time, full-year women workers were 73 percent of men's. When all women are included, their earnings were 54 percent of men's that year, up from 45 percent in 1986; their after-tax income ratio was 63 percent, up from 52 percent in 1986.

Despite these gains women are still over-represented among those with low-incomes. About 24 percent of women aged 65 and older have incomes below Statistics Canada's low-income cut-offs, as do 56 percent of female lone-parents, indicating little change since 1980 when the figure was 57 percent.

Women and Government

Since 1985, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, part of Canada's Constitution, has guaranteed equal rights to women and men as well as special measures to correct past discrimination on the basis of sex. Discrimination is also prohibited in the human rights acts of the Government of Canada and all ten provinces.

Canada is committed to several international human rights treaties and other agreements, especially the 1985 United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action. Gender equality is also pursued through work with other international organizations, such as the Commonwealth, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Francophonie, the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

Women are increasingly active in public life at all levels. In the 2000 federal election, 62 women were elected to the 301-seat House of Commons. Women also have extensive representation in the provinces and territories, and at the municipal level on city councils and school boards. As of 1999, women held 26.9 percent of executive positions in the federal public service. For the first time, we now have a female Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Women as Activists

The achievement of basic political rights in the early part of this century set the stage for the much larger, more organized women's movement of today. In the 1960s, individual women and women's organizations convinced the federal government to establish the Royal Commission on the Status of Women. The Commission's landmark report, published in 1970, was a blueprint for policy and legislation to ensure equality for Canadian women.

There are almost 70 national women's organizations in Canada and thousands of provincial, regional and local women's groups.

Examples of efforts to advance women's equality

A wide variety of measures which foster gender equality have been built up in Canada, from child support and employment equity to pay equity legislation. Other examples are child tax benefits that go to the mother in most cases, and public pensions that ensure no penalty for years when a parent had low or no earnings while caring for a young child.

Federal, provincial and territorial governments have been working together to eliminate sexual stereotyping in school curricula, textbooks and career counseling. They also encourage greater participation by women and girls in non-traditional disciplines such as science and technology.

Recently, the Government of Canada extended Employment Insurance parental benefits for natural or adoptive parents to one year. The majority of provincial jurisdictions have amended their parental leave provisions to enable parents to take advantage of the longer benefit period.

In addition to creating Centres of Excellence on women's health and policies on gender-sensitive medical research, the Government of Canada recently established the Gender and Health Institute within the Canadian Institutes on Health Research.

Over the past few decades, governments and non-governmental organizations have made concerted efforts to address violence against women. On the legal front, criminal harassment legislation, training for police and Crown prosecutors and specialized domestic violence courts have been developed. Shelters for battered women have been created, along with other community-based counseling and assistance services, including sexual assault services. There are now co-ordinated interagency committees in many communities.

Looking Ahead

Progress has been made. Improved policies to increase women's economic autonomy and security, to promote women's human rights and to address violence against women continue to be priority issues. The task ahead is clear: to continue initiating change and ensure that policy-makers at all levels maintain their efforts to advance gender equality at national and international levels.

Data Sources:

Women in Canada 2000 : A gender-based statistical report, Statistics Canada, 2000.

"Economic Gender Equality Indicators 2000", published by Statistics Canada in the March, 2001 issue of Canadian Social Trends , as an update of original work published in 1997 by Federal/Provincial-Territorial Ministers Responsible for the Status of Women.

Women and Men in Canada: A Statistical Glance produced for Status of Women Canada by the Target Groups Project of Statistics Canada, 1999. 2