International report ranks Canada 19th in gender equality

Should the federal government be doing more to close the gender gap in Canada?

On Tuesday, the World Economic Forum (WEF) released it’s 2014 gender equality report, an annual analysis that captures the magnitude and scope of gender-based disparities around the world.

Canada ranked 19th — out of 142 countries — and has, over the past few years, improved in the rankings.

"Canada moves up one spot to 19th place, having closed 75 per cent of its overall gender gap, up from 74 per cent in 2013," notes the report.

“Looking further back to 2006, Canada has closed 4 per cent more of the gender gap than it had in 2006.”

There are, however, some areas of concern.

Particularly, Canada ranks 27th in the world when it comes wage equality for similar work and 40th with regard to the percentage of female legislators, corporate executives and general managers.

[ Related: Are quotas the answer to get more women on Canada’s corporate boards? ]

According to a spokesperson for Minister of Labour and Minister of Status of Women Kellie Leitch, the government has made significant investments to improve the lives of women in Canada. Jeremy Laurin told Yahoo Canada News that they have invested “$54 million towards projects that focus on improving women’s economic security and prosperity” including new programs to support female entrepreneurs.

And, while they’re not implementing mandatory quotas for corporate boards — like many European countries have — they’re trying to compel publicly traded companies to set goals and timelines for increased female involvement through a ‘comply or explain’ regime.

But even the government’s statistics suggest that women are severely lagging behind the opposite sex.

"Only 15.9 per cent of corporate board positions at FP500 companies are held by women in Canada today," notes the Status of Women Canada website.

"Nearly 40 per cent of FP500 companies and close to half of publicly traded companies have no women on their boards."

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The opposition parties argue place the blame on the Harper government.

"This government has not helped women," Liberal MP Kirsty Duncan told Yahoo Canada News.

"They cancelled the childcare accord signed in 2005. In 2010, they canceled the long-form census and cut a question from the National Household Survey which specifically addressed unpaid work. So if you don’t measure it, how can you track it?

"There has been no action on pay equity, and the government tabled a report on women on boards that was entirely voluntary."

The NDP suggests that the results of the WEF report are disappointing.

"Canadian women have been losing ground as a result of various measures enacted by subsequent Federal Governments over recent years," Niki Ashton, the Official Opposition Critic for the Status of Women, told Yahoo Canada News, through a spokesperson.

"The Federal Government does have a significant role to play in working with Canadian women to address the inequality we face."

Over the past several years, the NDP has proposed a seemingly more holistic approach to gender equality.

In February, MP Anne-Marie Day introduced a private members bill that would have gradually increased the number of women on Crown corporation boards of directors to achieve equal representation within six years. Ministers appoint directors to Crown boards; currently, according to the NDP, women currently occupy about 30 per cent of the boards.

The New Democrats have also advocated for raising the federal minimum wage — two-thirds of minimum wage earners over the age of 15 are women — and recently unveiled their national daycare plan, a program that would effectively allow more women to seek gainful employment.

"From ending violence against women, to respecting a woman`s right to choose, to establishing national childcare – the NDP is a party that commits to equality every step along the way," Ashton said.

Poor 'political empowerment' ranking:

Canada ranks in the middle third of countries — 52nd — when it comes to percentage of women in Parliament behind countries such as Rwanda, Cuba, Ecuador and Mozambique.

While some in this country have talked about quotas for Parliament, former prime minister Kim Campbell recently shared her bold idea to improve gender equality in Canadian politics.

During a speech earlier this year, Canada’s first and only female prime minister raised the idea of dual-member ridings that would be represented by one man and one woman.

"We shouldn’t just sit back and say, ‘Oh well, [gender equality in the House of Commons] will work itself out,’" Campbell said according to the Kings County News.

"At the rate we’re going, it will take more generations than I will live to see. I think we really do need to push and continue to care about it."

Campbell’s proposed model of dual-member ridings is similar to one turned down by Nunuvut voters in a referendum prior to their first elections in 1997.

In that model, political parties would be expected to nominate two candidates in each riding — one male and one female — and voters would be entitled to cast two ballots — one vote for each gender.

Tory cabinet minister Michelle Rempel, however, recently dismissed that proposal.

"I think it’s laudable to try and seek diversity in our legislative bodies. This proposal, actually, is based on the assumption that there isn’t equity in the political system in order to enter into it " she told Sun News.

"If you compare our political to…the American system, we have on caps how much you can fundraise, how much you can expense. And that’s to level the playing field to allow anybody of any demographic background to enter [the system.]

"A different conversation is saying why do people self deselect from the process."

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