Corporate information
Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do
Raison d’être
The Department for Women and Gender Equality works to advance gender equality through an intersectional gendered lens. 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 Canada’s economic, social, and political life. The Department for Women and Gender Equality works to uphold its mandate to advance gender equality by performing a central coordination function within the Government of Canada by developing and implementing policies, providing grants and contributions, delivering programs, investing in research, and providing advice to achieve equality for people of all genders, including women.
Mandate and role
The mandate of the Department is to advance equality with respect to sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression through the inclusion of people of all genders, including women, in Canada’s economic, social, and political life. This application of a gender and diversity lens will help us to understand better the intersection of sex and gender with other identity factors. These factors include – but are not limited to – race, national and ethnic origin, Indigenous origin or identity, age, sexual orientation, socio-economic condition, place of residence and disability.
WAGE works within the context of a number of federal and international instruments that support the principle of gender equality such as: the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Canadian Human Rights Act, the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
WAGE’s responsibilities include the following:
- supporting the development of a National Action Plan on Gender-Based Violence;
- leading the implementation of Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA+) across the federal government and working to improve the quality and scope of GBA+ in future budgets;
- implementing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls’ Calls for Justice in partnership with First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples
- providing expert advice and strategic support to federal departments and agencies in the development of policies, programs and legislation related to gender equality, including gaps in health research and care;
- sharing research and policy expertise with the organizations and other levels of governments that have the levers to address gender equality issues;
- sustaining funding commitments to Canadian women’s organizations and equality-seeking groups, including supporting community action to tackle systemic barriers that perpetuate gender inequality;
- supporting the creation of more accessible and affordable childcare and access to housing that is affordable and meets the needs of Canadian women and girls;
- supporting Canada’s efforts to meet international obligations on promoting gender equality abroad; and
- promoting commemorative dates related to gender equality.
Operating context
With the help of WAGE, Canada continues to make significant progress on gender equality. In spite of this, women still face challenges in achieving full equality in Canada. Women continue to be under-represented in politics and leadership roles and earn less – on average – than men. Women are also more likely to experience gender-based violence including sexual assaults and intimate-partner violence. Some groups of women, Indigenous women and girls in particular, are disproportionately affected by these types of violence.
- As of February 2019, women comprised 29% of the House of Commons representation. Women also currently represent 34% of all provincial and territorial legislators and 18% of mayors across Canada.Footnote 1
- In 2019, women accounted for 31.5% of persons employed in senior management occupations.Footnote 2 When considering the number of women on boards of directors across both public and private corporations and government business enterprises, less than 20% of all leadership roles in corporations conducting business in Canada were held by women in 2016.Footnote 3
- When comparing average hourly wages of women and men (aged 15+) working full-time and part-time in 2019, women earned 88 cents for every dollar earned by men, suggesting a gap of 12%.Footnote 4
- A 2019 study from the Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship found that women in Canadian tech jobs, with a bachelor’s degree or higher, earned nearly $20,000 less a year than their male counterparts in 2016 (with women averaging $75,500 a year, compared with $95,100 for men).Footnote 5
- According to police-reported data, between 2009 and 2014, women accounted for about 9 in 10 survivors (87%) of sexual assaults in Canada. Among women who experienced a sexual assault, those under the age of 25 accounted for 7 in 10 (70%) survivors.Footnote 6
- Self-reported data from 2014 show that rates of sexual assaults among Indigenous women were more than three times higher than that of their non-Indigenous counterparts (113 vs 35 incidents per 1,000 population).Footnote 7
- According to 2018 police-reported data, women accounted for almost 8 in 10 (79%) survivors of intimate partner violence in Canada. Footnote 8
- In 2018, women accounted for about 8 in 10 (77%) victims of intimate-partner homicides.Footnote 9
- Police-reported data shows that the 2018 homicide rate for Indigenous women and girls was nearly seven times higher than that of their non-Indigenous counterparts (4.54 per 100,000 population versus 0.67 respectively).Footnote 10
Certain groups of women and gender minorities may be more vulnerable to these challenges, including LGBTQ2 people, Indigenous women and girls, young women, immigrant women, and racialized women. The #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls’ Calls for Justice have drawn greater public attention to these challenges. Sustained and heightened attention to gender equality issues has resulted in higher demands on the organization to assist, and provide guidance and feedback to other departments on their priorities, as well as address new and emerging departmental priorities.
In December 2018, new legislation created Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE), transforming the former Status of Women Canada into an official department of the Government of Canada. While WAGE continues to work towards more equitable economic, political and social outcomes for women and girls in Canada, its mandate establishes WAGE as a center of expertise that leads and mobilizes federal activities to advance equality with respect to sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, recognizing intersections between sex, gender and other identity factors.
In spite of this, important data gaps limit our understanding of existing gender inequalities and how they disproportionately impact vulnerable groups. The government of Canada has demonstrated its commitment to advancing gender equality through significant investments in key programs, policies and initiatives. WAGE is funding and sharing important research to fill knowledge gaps on issues relevant to gender equality, which in turn will help support policymakers and service providers at all levels use evidence to inform their decisions and practices.
In order to establish the corporate structure necessary to deliver on Government priorities and support a full department, WAGE’s internal environment must continue its rapid growth. WAGE has renewed its focus on building and strengthening its organizational structure and internal processes in order to effectively manage this growth. This includes strengthening the Human Resources function to accommodate the needs of growing teams and constant onboarding of new personnel, provide improved organizational and leadership structures for more effective work functions and people management, implementing successful workplace health and wellness initiatives, as well as proactive employee communication and engagement. These changes will create more effective business processes and enhance the planning function which will become integral to identifying and delivering on key priorities.
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