Question Period Note: Gender Equality in Politics

What is the Government of Canada doing to support gender equality in politics?

• The Government of Canada is committed to building a diverse and inclusive government.
• The Government has introduced measures to improve work-life balance for members of Parliament and the House of Commons, as well as to ensure that federal workplaces are harassment- and violence-free.
• The current House of Commons includes a record number of female Members of Parliament, with 103 women elected to the 338-member House of Commons of Canada (30.5%) in the 2021 election. Of those 103 women, 22 were elected for the first time in the 2021 election. This represents a gain of three seats from the record high of 100 women during the previous parliamentary session.
• Since 2015, the Department for Women and Gender Equality has provided over $37M in funding to support projects that strengthen the participation of women in leadership and politics.

• Barriers that prevent gender equality in politics include, but are not limited to, a lack of support for families, fear and the real threat of negative attacks based on gender norms, difficulty obtaining private donations, and biased perceptions about appropriate career paths.
• Research indicates that women who participate in politics experience a spectrum of gender-based violence, in both physical and online environments, that includes physical, psychological, economic and symbolic actions or threats resulting in harm or suffering. Violence against women in politics is intersectional: racialized individuals, LGBTQ2 persons, the economically disadvantaged, persons with disabilities, and younger women tend to experience disproportionate levels of violence in politics.
• To reduce barriers to participation in Parliament, progress has been made to improve work-life balance in the House of Commons, including, but not limited to, scheduling votes after Question Period instead of in the evenings.
• To reduce barriers to participation in the electoral process, Bill C-76 amended the Canada Elections Act, allowing candidates to use their own funds, in addition to campaign funds, to pay for disability-related child care, or other relevant home or healthcare expenses; and to increase the reimbursement rate to 90% for such expenses and exempt them from campaign spending limits.
• Women and Gender Equality Canada, through its Women's Program, supports projects to increase women’s participation in leadership positions, including in politics:
o Support for Women's Empowerment: Over 30 projects to promote and enhance women’s participation in civic and political life by addressing barriers, as well as to strengthen the voices of Indigenous women in their communities.
o Funding to Advance Gender Equality: Over 50 projects that engage some 150 women in leadership positions from across the country to advance gender equality locally and as part of a pan-Canadian network.
o Equal Voice: Funding was announced in October 2018 for a project to empower the next generation of women leaders and increase women’s participation in politics with a view to creating more gender-balanced governments.
• In addition, through the $100 million Feminist Response and Recovery Fund, WAGE is supporting 237 projects to advance women’s equality, with roughly a third of the projects aiming to tackle systemic barriers that diverse women face to participation in leadership and decision-making roles.
• In 2020-21, completed projects funded by the Women’s Program led to the development and dissemination of more than 1,100 different resources to improve access to supports for women leaders and address systemic barriers.
• The Department also benefits from an Indigenous Women's Circle, which engages Indigenous women leaders and experts in public and private sectors on the systemic inequalities they face and their priorities for advancing gender equality, including in leadership roles.

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