Gender Equality In Canada

Canada’s history has been molded as a result of very strong-minded women that used the change that happened during the war to open the door for women to promote and uphold gender equality in Canada. In the pre-war years it was assumed that women would orientate to a predominantly domestic role; women were to dedicate their lives to bearing and raising children. Women were dependent on men for money and support; they faced discrimination at work and in education as many opportunities were barred to them. Women have achieved a large amount of important human rights that have now become Canadian values today. The women's movement has challenged the conventional stereotype which portrayed a woman's “place” as in the home and many women now look …show more content…
Women have expanded their skills and competencies to reach certain educational achievements and have strengthened the labour force participation and earning potential. Women have reached near equivalence to men in the labour market involvement with women being engaged in Canada’s labour market at an all-time high, making up 48% of the workforce (Catalyst, 2016). Women can now, and have been, showing an interest in politics and leadership roles and with their growing participation in these positions, corporate companies can actually show a noteworthy economic growth for Canada. Of Canada’s biggest financial companies (based on the Financial Post ranking of the top 500 companies: FP500), those with the highest number of women workers listed in upper status positions have verified a 26% higher return on investments, and it was also noted that on June 30, 2015 women represented 34% of the General Government Appointments in Canada (Canada Statistics, 2016). Achievements for improving women’s status has been made but efforts to reduce all discrimination in political, economic and social life for women is continuing, with the wage gap between women and men still clearly present and minimal progress made to putting an end to it. Individual federal departments and agencies hold the levers for gender equality and thanks to organizations like the Status of Women Canada who work to support the federal family to uphold these commitments statistics show women’s salaries have increased slightly. In 2008 women earned, on average, 83 cents to every dollar earned by men, an increase of eight cents since 1988 (Canada Statistics, 2016). Presently the Canadian women’s status has progressed well compared to women in some other western countries..