Thank you, Madam Chair. I must say the longer our study of this topic goes on, the more questions I have. I have to say this is an incredible study of an extremely important issue. We've done other important topics, obviously, but this one really taps the root of exactly what the Status of Women Canada exists for.
One of the things that occur to me here, and you've identified it in your presentations, is the gap that we're in fact trying to chase. I know it's too simplistic to say that there's just one gender gap and it surfaces in income, in access to education, in employment, and in so many other facets. I have so many questions that I think I'll have to go back and have a closer look at some of these.
It occurs to me that the assumption the Department of Finance has taken in its fiscal measures is that the application of these measures is gender neutral. In other words, it applies systematically to Ms. Lahey's example of the man with $1,000 and the woman with $100. It occurred to me that the $100,000 female income earner would still receive the same benefit. It's essentially a neutral approach.
So what creates the inequality here is the fact that the gender-neutral application of this policy is not being applied to an equitable circumstance. So it is the circumstance that really is at the root of the inequality that gets created. That really brings us back to what other policy instruments we can use to begin to change those circumstances. It moves us away in some cases from those income circumstances.
I wonder if you could comment on the key policy instruments that any government should be looking at.
Armine, you identified, for example, affordable housing as being critical. What's the policy instrument that has the greatest impact in bringing Canada back to that gender equality index? I think we've now fallen to 18th.
I guess the second part to that question is, are we falling behind or are other countries just doing it better? There are a bunch of questions in there, but if you could each have a spin at that, I'd appreciate it, in the little time that's left.