Click here to read the full report online.
The COVID-19 pandemic that swept the globe in 2020 not only threatened people’s health but exposed and exacerbated entrenched inequalities. Women bore the brunt. Three years later, the acute phase of the pandemic is over, but women are still in recovery mode.
This brief takes stock of where we are now with respect to the gender gap in Canada—using the CCPA’s Gender Gap Index to assess developments over the past three years. The index focuses on the gap between men and women. It looks at 17 indicators across the five domains that make up the CCPA index: economic participation and security, personal security, educational attainment, health, and leadership and political empowerment.
Nationally, the CCPA index reveals that the gender equality gap widened slightly between 2019 and 2022. In 2022, Canada had closed 78.6 per cent of the parity gap, a decline of 0.4 percentage points compared to 2019.
The CCPA Gender Gap Index and Beyond Recovery project aims to help spur a national conversation about the challenges that women and gender-diverse people face and the progressive alternatives that are on offer at a local, provincial or national level. Such a conversation is essential to creating communities where all can thrive. If there is one message to take forward it is that change on gender equality is possible but concerted action is needed to get us there.