FEWO Committee Report

Insufficient attention to gender analysis has meant that women's contributions and concerns remain too often ignored in economic structures, such as financial markets and institutions, labour markets, economics as an academic discipline, economic and social infrastructure, taxation and social security systems, as well as in families and households. As a result, many policies and programmes may continue to contribute to inequalities between women and men. Where progress has been made in integrating gender perspectives, programme and policy effectiveness has also been enhanced.

Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, September 15, 1995[1]

A. The Committee’s Decision and Process

Concerned with achieving gender equality in Canada and committed to improving women’s economic security, the Standing Committee on the Status of Women adopted a motion to begin its study on gender budgets[2] on November 19, 2007. As a preliminary step, the Committee held four information sessions with international and national experts to determine the scope of its study.

Based on the evidence gathered during these initial meetings, the Committee organized its program of work into two phases. During the first phase, the Committee held several meetings to examine gender-based analysis (GBA) in the federal government, and areas of flexibility and constraint with respect to including gender as a variable in the budget process. This phase included a gender-based analysis of recent federal budgets and assessment of Finance Canada’s approach to integrating gender-based analysis into its work. The second phase of the Committee’s study focused on structures, processes and tools to enhance progress towards gender responsive budgets. The Committee heard testimony on international experiences in implementing gender budgets, legislative frameworks and mandates, accountability and reporting structures, and data gathering initiatives.

The Committee convened nineteen meetings with witnesses on the topic of gender budgets from November 2007 to May 2008, and now reports on its findings.

B. The Context of the Study

Since its inception, the Committee has been concerned with improving the status of Canadian women. It has addressed the inequalities that women in Canada experience in their daily lives and has urged the federal government to correct these inequalities. In its 2005 report, Gender-Based Analysis: Building Blocks for Success, the Committee recognized that a dual approach was needed to tackle these gender inequalities. This approach entailed “developing policies, programs and legislation that are women-specific as well as ensuring that legislation, programs and policies, which are not specifically targeted for women, do not inadvertently maintain or exacerbate any equality gap.”[3] Accountability mechanisms within departments and central agencies were examined as part of the Committee’s study on gender-based analysis in the federal government.

In addition, the Committee has closely examined why many Canadian women continue to experience economic insecurity. In its 2007 report, Improving the Economic Security of Women: Time to Act, the Committee’s conclusions indicated that the federal government has an important role to play in improving women’s incomes and in developing solutions that address women’s unpaid work.

In this study on gender responsive budgets, the Committee continues with its commitment to pursue gender equality and women’s economic security. The Committee recognizes that federal spending and taxation decisions have a differential impact on men and women. The Committee believes that the federal government has historically been, and continues to be, the key driver in achieving gender equality, and that gender equality can be attained if the federal government commits to setting objectives that are linked to government spending and taxation policies. To achieve this, the federal government will need to maintain the dual approach that was described above. As well, the federal government has to be cognizant that many women continue to face economic insecurity in their everyday lives due to their income levels and the amount of unpaid work that they perform.