Minister transition binder one

The Department for Women and Gender Equality Act, which came into force in December 2018 (see Annex A for full legal document), transformed the former Status of Women Canada (SWC) into a full department, overseen by the Minister for Women and Gender Equality.

The Department’s expanded mandate is two-fold: to advance equality, including social, economic and political, with respect to sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression; and to promote a better understanding of the intersection of sex and gender with other identity factors (e.g., race, national and ethnic origin, Indigenous origin or identity, age, sexual orientation, socio-economic condition, place of residence and disability) through the application of the Government’s gender and diversity lens known as Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+). The Department currently has approximately 289 full-time equivalents.

The Department for Women and Gender Equality (WAGE) has three functions in its leadership role on gender equality: as convener, as knowledge broker, and as capacity builder.

• As convener, WAGE brings together federal, domestic and international stakeholders, leverages resources and strengths, and makes connections to support a holistic, coordinated approach that leads to substantive and sustainable progress towards equality.
• As knowledge broker, WAGE develops, translates and transmits policy expertise and knowledge on diverse experiences of gender and inequality, and leads the Government’s GBA+ approach, supporting its application to ensure that all decisions take into consideration gender and diversity impacts based on evidence and analysis.
• As capacity builder, WAGE supports a strong network of equality-seeking partners and seeks to sustain, bridge and amplify the impact of stakeholder organizations working to tackle the range of barriers to equality based on sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.

WAGE works to advance gender equality through an intersectional gendered lens that takes into account sex and gender as well as other identity factors such as geography, ethnicity, income and age. Working in partnership with key stakeholders, including civil society organizations, labour groups, the private sector, other orders of government, and First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples, the Department actively promotes the inclusion of all people in all spheres of society and in government activities.

WAGE provides funding to organizations through three programs: the Women’s Program, which funds organizations with the objective of achieving full participation of women in the economic, social and democratic life of Canada; the Gender-based Violence Program, with the objective of supporting organizations working in the GBV sector to develop and implement promising practices to address gaps in supports for Indigenous and underserved groups of survivors in Canada; and the LGBTQ2 Community Capacity Fund, to increase the capacity of LGBTQ2 organizations whose initiatives contribute to a strong LGBTQ2 movement in Canada to advance equality for all people.

Programs are delivered nationally (22 and 15 Eddy, Gatineau) and through four regions: Atlantic; Quebec and Nunavut; Ontario; and, Western, Northwest Territory and Yukon. Regional offices are located in Moncton, Montréal, Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver.

Annex A

Department for Women and Gender Equality Act

Organizational chart

Program funding

Women’s Program: to advance equality for women in Canada by working to address or remove systemic barriers impeding women’s progress and advancement.

• $19M ongoing: since 2007, the department has had an annual grants and contributions (Gs&Cs) funding base of $19M
• $160M: an additional $160M was approved for 5 years, starting in 2019–20

Indigenous Stream of the National Conversation on Gender Equality with Young Canadians: to support national Indigenous organizations to work with young Indigenous people across Canada and engage them on gender equality.

• $2M: over 5 years starting in 2018-19

Capacity Building: to increase capacity of women’s organizations and Indigenous organizations working to advance women’s equality.

• $100M: approved over 5 years, starting in 2018-19 

Commemoration Fund: to honor the lives and legacies of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and LGBTQ2S individuals. 

• $10M: approved over 2 years, starting in 2018-19 

Equality for Sex, Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Gender Expression: to support the social, economic, and political equality of Canadians with respect to sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.

• $20M over 2 years, starting in 2019–20

Gender-Based Violence Program: to develop and implement promising practices to address gaps in support for survivors and their families.

• $54.5M over 6 years, starting in 2017-18, with $12M ongoing

Campus Violence: to work with stakeholders, including provincial and territorial governments, to develop a framework to prevent and address gender-based violence at post-secondary institutions.

• $5.5M: over 5 years, starting in 2018-19

Human Trafficking: to support the development, delivery, and testing of innovative promising practices in prevention programs for vulnerable populations and short-term continuum of care interventions for survivors of human trafficking.

• $10M: over five years, starting in 2019-20, and $2M ongoing

Women and Gender Equality Canada – Departmental Results Framework

Background

In 2016, The Treasury Board of Canada introduced the Policy on Results, whose objective is to enhance the understanding of the results government seeks to achieve, does achieve, and the resources used to achieve them. The Policy further strengthens the alignment of the performance information presented in Departmental Plans (DP), other Estimates documents and the Public Accounts of Canada. Additionally, it establishes the Departmental Results Framework (DRF) of appropriated organizations as the structure against which financial and non-financial performance information is provided for Estimates and parliamentary reporting. The same reporting structure applies irrespective of whether the organization is reporting in the Main Estimates, the DP, the Departmental Results Report (DRR) or the Public Accounts of Canada. The Departmental Results Framework consists of the Department's Core Responsibilities, Departmental Results and Departmental Result Indicators and Program Inventory.

Current Status

In October 2018, the Government of Canada tabled the Budget Implementation Act Part 2, which included legislation to create Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE). Changes were made to the existing DRF to ensure that it reflected the new mandate and core responsibility. The DRF was approved in March, 2019. The DRF for WAGE is as follows:

2019-20 Departmental Plan

The Departmental Plan (DP) is an annual requirement to communicate departmental expenditure plans, organizational priorities, resources requirements and expected results to Parliament and People in Canada.

The DP is publicly available.

Women and Gender Equality Canada’s (WAGEs) 2019-20 DP, provides an outline for achieving more equitable outcomes for women and girls, building capacity to fulfill the department’s new mandate and its role as a centre of expertise. Over this year, the DP provides that the Department will focus on four priorities areas:

• Strategic action, support and investment to address systemic barriers to gender equality, including: social, political and economic equality.
• Promoting a greater understanding of the intersection of sex and gender with other identity factors for more responsive federal policies and programs that systematically consider the needs of diverse groups of people, through the government-wide implementation of Gender-based Analysis Plus and the Gender Results Framework.
• Preventing and addressing gender based violence (GBV), including interventions aiming to reduce the prevalence of GBV in order to improve supports and services for people impacted.
• Strategic engagement with domestic and international stakeholders and partners to advance gender equality globally and at home.

To build required capacity to support the department’s growth and expanded mandate, carry out government business and deliver on priorities, the Department relies on its Internal Services functions, whose current priorities include: designing and implementing a new organizational structure; attracting and retaining a highly qualified workforce; and implementing a comprehensive governance approach to serve the expanded organizational structure and support transformation.

Planned Spending for 2019-20 is nearly 44% higher than forecast spending for 2018-19 ($103,960,601 compared to $72,368,232). In addition, planned full-time equivalents for 2019-20 are 28% higher than the 2018-19 Forecast (289 FTEs compared to 226). Overall, increases in actual spending and FTEs since 2016-17 are due to new investments received in Budgets 2016, 2017 and 2018, and also reflect the Department’s rapid growth.

Key dates/opportunities – First 100 days

Key groups with regular interaction

It is recommended that the Minister engage early with the following key groups. A list of our Provincial and Territorial Partners responsible for the Status of Women is attached under Annex A.

Women’s Organizations

• These organizations (national, regional and local levels) represent the diversity of women’s voices and experiences from across the country in a variety of focus areas, such as research, law reform, economic development, advocacy, women in politics, and violence.

National Indigenous Women’s Organizations (NIWOs) and Key National and Regional Organizations

• These organizations are the representative Indigenous organizations mandated to speak specifically on behalf of Indigenous women. 

LGBTQ2 Organizations

• These organizations are representative of efforts to advancing equality with respect to sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. The Department continues to build relationships and strengthen the capacity of LGBTQ2 organizations. 

The Federal-Provincial-Territorial (FPT) Forum of Ministers Responsible for the Status of Women

• This Forum provides a unique opportunity to work collaboratively with Ministers from the 13 Provinces and Territories (PTs) to advance key priorities affecting women and girls in Canada. 

Annex A

Provincial and Territorial partners

Note: Provincial and Territorial Partners responsible for the Status of Women are listed from East to West.

Gender equality in Canada

Education and skills development:

• Boys are less likely to complete high school than girls. For example, in 2016, 90 % of women aged 25-64 years had obtained at least a high school diploma, compared to 87 % of men of the same age.
• Women are more likely to continue their education than men, representing 53 % of post-secondary credential holders aged 25-64 years in 2016.
• Women with intersecting identities may face additional barriers reaching their educational goals. For example, First Nations, Inuit and Métis women aged 25-64 years have lower high school completion rates than non-Indigenous women at 73 %, 57 % and 85 %, respectively. Indigenous men have even lower rates: 66 % among First Nations, 55 % among Inuit and 79 % among Métis.
• Women are less likely to pursue studies in architecture, engineering, mathematics and computer science than men, accounting for only 24 % of students at the undergraduate level in 2016-17. In contrast, men are less likely to study education and health-related fields, accounting for 24 % of undergraduate students.
• In 2015, boys aged 15 years had lower average reading scores than girls (514 versus 540), while girls had lower average mathematics scores than boys (511 versus 520). Average science scores were similar across genders (528 for boys and 527 for girls).
• Voluntary questions on Indigenous identity will be included in six provinces as part of the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment^{Footnote 1}.
• Adult women had lower numeracy scores than men in 2012 (258 versus 273), while adult literacy scores were similar across genders (272 versus 275).
• Women and men were equally likely to participate in adult education and training in 2012 (57 % versus 58 %).

Sources: 2016 Census; Postsecondary Student Information System; OECD Programme for International Student Assessment; C.D. Howe Institute; OECD Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies; 2012 OECD Survey of Adult Skills; Department of Finance Canada calculations.

Economic participation and prosperity:

• Women are less likely to participate in the workforce than men (75 % versus 82 % in 2018 for ages 15-64 years), although men's participation rates have been declining in recent years. Women's employment rates are also lower than men's rates (58 % versus 65 %).
• Women from underrepresented groups may face additional barriers. In 2018, the participation rate for recent immigrant women was 20 percentage points lower than that for men (61 % versus 81 %).
• Men earn more than women on an hourly and annual basis. The median hourly gender wage gap for full-time workers was 12 % in 2018, while the median annual employment income gap was 30 % in 2017.
• Fewer women work in full-time positions, with only 74 % of employed women working full-time compared to 88 % of men in 2018.
• Over the last 30 years, the share of men participating in housework tasks has increased from 64 % to 76 %. However, in 2015, women spent 90 minutes more per day on unpaid domestic and care work than men.
• In 2016, the take-up rate among mothers reached 89 % in Canada (excluding Quebec), while it was only 13 % among fathers. In Quebec, which has dedicated weeks for paternity leave and more benefits, the take-up rate among fathers is much higher at 80 %. The take-up rate among mothers is also higher at 97 %.
• In 2016, there was a child care space for 27.2 % of children, up from 24.1 % in 2014. There was significant provincial and territorial variation, ranging from 8.4 % in Saskatchewan to 55.1 % in Quebec.
• In 2015, families with at least one child aged 0-3 years and at least one child aged 4-14 years who had child care expenses spent, on average, 7 % of their annual household income on child care.
• Men represented only 14 % of office support workers and 10 % of nurses in 2018, while women represented only 17 % of those working in front-line public protection services and 4 % of those working in industrial, electrical and construction trades.
• In 2018, women and men aged 15 years and over were almost equally likely to hold temporary jobs (14 % versus 13 %) and be working involuntarily part-time (5 % versus 3 %). Women were somewhat more likely to work in low-wage jobs (26 % versus 18 %).

Sources: Labour Force Survey; Canadian Income Survey; 2015 General Social Survey; Child Care Resources and Research Unit; Statistics Canada Custom Tabulation; Survey of Household Spending; Department of Finance Canada calculations.

Leadership and democratic participation

• Women accounted for 48 % of employment in 2018, but only 33 % of those employed in senior management. Women accounted for only 10 % of C-suite executives at Canada's 100 largest publicly traded corporations.
• In 2017, 16 % of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) were majority-owned by women. Of those that are exporters, 15 % were majority-owned by women.
• Visible minorities held the majority ownership of 12 % of SMEs in 2017, Indigenous Peoples held 1 %, and people with disabilities held 1 %.
• In 2018, 25 % of FP500^{Footnote 2} board seats were held by women. Indigenous Peoples, visible minorities, people with disabilities and LGBTQ2+ represented 1 %, 6 %, 1 % and 1 % of directors, respectively.
• As of September 2019, women represented 33% of all provincial/territorial MLAs across Canada. As of October 2019, there was one woman Premier (NWT).
• As of March 2019, 13 % of mayors and 36 % of councilors were women in municipalities with over 200,000 inhabitants. As of January 2019, 28 % of councilors and 21 % of Chiefs of First Nations Band Councils were women.
• In 2017-18, of the 79 appointments to the federal judicial system over the year starting October 2017, 46 were women, 3 were Indigenous, 7 were visible minorities, 11 identified as part of an ethnic or cultural group, 2 were persons with disabilities, and 6 identified as LGBTQ2+.
• In 2017, women represented 21 % of police officers across all police forces in Canada. In the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, about one-fifth are women. In 2016, visible minorities represented 22 % of the population but only 8 % of police officers, while Indigenous Peoples represented 5 %, roughly equal to their share of the population.

Sources: Labour Force Survey; Women in Capital Markets; 2017 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises; Canadian Board Diversity Council; House of Commons; Senate; Indigenous Services Canada; Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs Canada; Police Administration Survey; Royal Canadian Mounted Police; 2016 Census.

Gender-based violence and access to justice

• Women are victims of workplace harassment more often than men. In 2016, 19 % of working-age women and 13 % of men reported experiencing workplace harassment in the past 12 months.
• Women are overrepresented as victims of police-reported intimate partner violence. In 2017, women accounted for almost 8 out of 10 victims.
• Women are more than 7 times more likely to be victims of sexual assault than men. In 2013-2014, there were 37 self-reported incidents of sexual assault for every 1,000 women aged 15 years and older.
• More men recall experiencing childhood maltreatment than women. In 2014, 32 % of men and 27 % of women reported experiencing physical and/or sexual abuse before the age of 15 years.
• Women were 5 times more likely to be killed by an intimate partner than men. In 2017, the rate of intimate partner homicide was 0.41 per 100,000 women, while it was 0.08 per 100,000 men. Women accounted for 84 % of homicide victims killed by an intimate partner in 2017.
• Sexual assault incidents were the least likely to be reported to the police of all incidents of violent victimization. In 2014, 83 % of sexual assault incidents were not reported to the police, compared to 54 % of robbery incidents and 60 % of physical assault incidents.
• Indigenous women are more likely to experience sexual assault. In 2014, Indigenous women recorded a sexual assault rate of 113 incidents per 1,000 women, more than three times higher than the rate for non-Indigenous women and more than 22 times higher than the rate for non-Indigenous men.
• In late 2013, the RCMP initiated a study of reported incidents of missing and murdered Indigenous women across all police jurisdictions in Canada. There were 1,181 police-reported incidents of Indigenous women homicides and unresolved missing Indigenous women. In 2013, Indigenous women made up approximately 11 % of all missing women and roughly 16 % of all homicides where women are victims, higher than their population share at the time of 4 %.
• In 2017, 14 % of sexual assaults reported to all police forces in Canada (e.g., federal, provincial, municipal) were classified as unfounded, down from 19 % in 2016.
• Canadians who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual are two times more likely than heterosexuals to be victims of violence crime.
• Hate crimes targeting sexual orientation accounted for 10% of all police-reported hate crimes in 2017, marking a second consecutive annual increase.
• In 2014, 31% of lesbian and gay, and 39% of bisexual individuals, reported experiencing discrimination in the past 5 years, compared to 13% of heterosexuals.

Sources: 2016 General Social Survey; 2014 General Social Survey; Uniform Crime Reporting Survey; Homicide Survey; Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Poverty reduction, health and well-being

• In 2017, 9.4 % of men and 9.5 % of women were below the poverty line, defined by the cost of a basket of essential goods and services.
• People in lone-parent households headed by women were more likely to be in poverty than people living in couples (31.5 % versus 7 %).
• Food insecurity occurs when a household must compromise in quality and/or quantity of food consumed, or reduce food intake and disrupt eating patterns. In 2011-12, 8.6 % of men aged 20 to 44 years lived in food insecure households, compared to 6.9 % of women. Lone-parent households were significantly more likely to face food insecurity than households led by couples (23 % compared to 7 %).
• According to the 2015/16 Canadian Community Health Survey, bisexual individuals report three times higher rates of food insecurity compared to heterosexual individuals.
• A household in core housing need is one whose dwelling is considered unsuitable, inadequate or unaffordable and who could not afford alternative adequate housing in their community. In 2016, 26 % of women who were lone parents lived in core housing need, compared to 11 % of all women and 10 % of all men.
• In 2016, 18 % of the visible minority population was in core housing need, compared to 9 % of the non-visible minority population.
• A 2016 national youth homelessness study found that 29.5% of homeless youth identified as LGBTQ2.
• In 2016-17, only 71 % of the total support payments in active cases was collected when both the spouse and child are beneficiaries, lower than when only the child (77 %) or only the spouse (85 %) is the beneficiary.
• A girl born in 2015 had an expected 71 years in good health compared to 69 years for a boy.
• The leading cause of death for men and women in 2016 was malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumours) followed by diseases of the heart. In both cases, the death rate was higher for men than for women. Deaths caused by intentional self-harm were significantly higher among men (16 per 100,000) than among women (6 per 100,000).
• In 2015, 96 % of girls aged 5-17 years were not meeting the physical activity guidelines compared to 88 % of boys. 82 % of men and 83 % of women aged 18-79 years were not meeting the guidelines.
• In 2017, 70 % of women aged 12 years and over self-reported a high level of mental health compared to 74 % of men.
• According to the 2015-16 Canadian Community Health Survey:
  • Bisexual men report fair to poor mental health nearly four times as often as heterosexual men.
  • Lesbian and bisexual women each reported 1.64 times higher rates of heavy alcohol use compared to heterosexual women.
  • Fewer LGB individuals (78%) report having a regular health care provider who they could talk to about a health problem, than heterosexual individuals (83%).
  • LGB individuals are more likely to have a severe or moderate functional health impairment than heterosexuals.
• Indigenous Peoples have significantly higher rates of suicide than non-Indigenous individuals.
• Of those sexually active aged 15-34 years not trying to conceive and not pregnant, 29 % did not use a condom or other method of contraception during their last sexual intercourse.

Sources: Canadian Income Survey; 2011-2012 Canadian Community Health Survey; 2016 Census; Survey of Maintenance Enforcement Programs; Vital Statistics – Death Database; Vital Statistics – Birth Database; Canadian Health Measures Survey; Canadian Community Health Survey – Annual Component; Department of Finance Canada calculations.

Gender equality around the world

• In 2018, women comprised only 5 % of combined UN police and military personnel in peacekeeping missions. Evidence shows that the inclusion of women in peacekeeping has benefits for effective operations.
• While evidence shows that women's rights organizations are the single most significant factor in influencing policy changes towards gender equality, only 0.5 % of the total amount of aid earmarked for OECD gender specific programming went to women's rights organizations in 2014.
• Between 1997 and 2019, the global average of women members of parliament rose from 12 % to 24 %.
• There were an estimated 89 million unintended pregnancies in developing countries in 2017, and every day approximately 830 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth, with adolescent girls facing an even higher risk of complications and death.
• Canada's new and revised trade agreements include gender provisions, including free trade agreements with Chile and Israel, the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
• In 2018, nearly 40 % of countries worldwide imposed constraints on women's right to own property, 104 countries had laws preventing women from working specific jobs, and in 18 countries husbands could legally prevent their wives from working.
• 1 in 3 women worldwide are estimated to have experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or sexual violence by a non-partner, and at least 200 million women and girls worldwide have been subjected to female genital mutilation, of which 44 million are girls below age 15.
• Women make up more than two-thirds of the world's nearly 750 million illiterate people, and in conflict zones girls are 2.5 times more likely than boys to be out of school entirely.

Sources: United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations; Inter-Parliamentary Union; Global Affairs Canada; World Bank; United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF); United Nations Women.