In April 2008, the House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women recommended, in its ninth report, that the Auditor General’s Office examine the implementation of gender-based analysis in the federal government.

In its 2009 Spring Report, the Auditor General’s Office reported on gender-based analysis and its full implementation across federal departments. The AG’s Office looked at a sample of 68 initiatives to determine whether gender-based analysis had been carried out in seven different departments, and whether the information gathered was used to inform policy-development.

The report outlines how gender-based analysis was only adequately integrated into policy development for 4 of the 68 initiatives.

Budget 2009 was promised as an ‘economic recovery’ and ‘stimulus’ budget, and a plan to ensure that those who are most economically vulnerable would get support during a period of recession.

Women had every reason to hope they would be seen as equally able to stimulate the economy and would enjoy protections too, as women make up over half the population in Canada and many women are among the most economically vulnerable.

As a group, women are poorer; hold less secure jobs; own less property; have fewer savings; and have less pension income. Forty percent (40%) of women in Canada do not even make enough money to pay income taxes even in the best of times. The poorest are Aboriginal women, racialized women, immigrant women, women with disabilities, single women with children and older women who live alone.

Budget 2009 was promised as an ‘economic recovery’ and ‘stimulus’ budget, and a plan to ensure that those who are most economically vulnerable would get support during a period of recession.

Women had every reason to hope they would be seen as equally able to stimulate the economy and would enjoy protections too, as women make up over half the population in Canada and many women are among the most economically vulnerable.

As a group, women are poorer; hold less secure jobs; own less property; have fewer savings; and have less pension income. Forty percent (40%) of women in Canada do not even make enough money to pay income taxes even in the best of times. The poorest are Aboriginal women, racialized women, immigrant women, women with disabilities, single women with children and older women who live alone.

But the World Bank recently concluded that “the business case for expanding women’s
economic opportunities is becoming increasingly evident; this is nothing more than smart
economics.” Women, and particular vulnerable groups of women, are hardest hit during
times of economic crisis and also have the greatest potential to contribute to the
economy.

Twelve recipients of the Governor General’s Award in Commemoration of the Person’s Case and more than ninety experts on human rights law and women’s rights have signed a letter calling on Prime Minister Harper to withdraw the Public Sector Equitable Compensation Act. The PSEC Act was introduced as part of Budget 2009.

The proposed legislation empties the right to pay equity of any meaning, say legal scholars and women’s rights specialists from across Canada. By permitting the evaluation of pay for male and female dominated jobs to take into account that male-dominated jobs are valued more highly in the market, this legislation will re-inject sex discrimination into federal public sector pay practices rather than eliminating it. Pay equity laws were created because market forces consistently undervalued women’s work compared to men’s.

Canada’s performance in achieving women’s human rights is currently being reviewed by the United Nation’s Committee on the International Covenant on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

FAFIA, along with its member groups, has submitted a comprehensive national civil society report to the UN CEDAW Committee to advise this review.

Nearly 40 women’s equality seeking groups and individuals collaborated on this testimony of Canada’s adherence to CEDAW and its implementation of the CEDAW committee’s recommendations of 2003.

There is a wealth of information online on women’s economic security in Canada and factors contributing to the feminization of poverty. We have compiled a database of articles that can easily be seen here.

The 52nd session of the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women took place in March 2008. The theme for these sessions was “Financing for Women’s Equality”.

FAFIA led a delegation of eight women to attend these sessions. The delegation took part in a training session on women’s economic security in Canada to lend domestic context to these international meetings.

Please find our training materials on women’s economic securiy after the jump…

FAFIA launched its gender budgeting project in October 2007 with the support of Oxfam Canada and the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario. This project has a national focus and relies on the ongoing engagement of many of FAFIA’s members and partners who are dedicated to substantive equality in Canada.

Gender budgeting addresses women’s inequality by examining a government’s budgets through a gender lens and, in particular, where its tax and spending priorities lie.

“Canadian women make up half the electorate and almost half the nation’s income tax payers. They contribute $42.4 billion in personal income taxes to the well-being of all Canadians. Despite this heft, the 2008 budget is written as if women are afterthoughts, mere asterisks in the larger Canadian.”

In the report “Budget 2008: What’s in it for Women,” the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives explores the gender impact of the 2008 federal budget. It highlights how the budget does virtually nothing for Canadian women struggling to balance family and work life, and how its heavy emphasis on tax cuts are strongly tilted in favour of high income men.

The paper also examines the federal government’s priorities laid out in this government’s last three budgets and finds an approach that rewards the rich, but does precious little for the rest of us. Despite availability of huge surpluses, women’s concerns are almost invisible.

Income splitting is when one tax payer transfers a portion of the income they control to someone else for tax purposes, so that they are subject to a lower tax rate. The goal of income splitting is to pay less tax collectively. Income splitting is generally a bad public policy for women. It attempts to achieve family work life balance by encouraging one full timer to go to work and one family member to stay at home. Income splitting demonstrates how tax policy can be used to discriminate against women since income splitting and family taxation are old ideas deeply rooted in women’s disenfranchisement.

In her presentation, Kim Brooks illustrates who benefits from income splitting, who is excluded, as well as detailing the gendered implications of income splitting for women.