Thank you for inviting us today.
I'm from Statistics Canada, and I'm here with my colleague, Louise Marmen. We're very pleased to have the opportunity to give you a brief overview of Statistics Canada’s approach to gender statistics and how our data can be accessed.
I'll begin with a brief introduction on the Canadian context for gender statistics. The implementation of gender-based analysis throughout federal departments and agencies has ensured demand for gender statistics at Statistics Canada. This was an important development coming out of the 1995 federal plan for gender equality. Our main contribution is the provision of gender statistics, which are then used by policy departments to conduct gender-based analysis.
Here are the definitions we work with when we talk about gender statistics. Gender statistics are data that reflect the situation of women and men, taking into account their different socio-economic realities. Gender statistics are then used in gender-based analysis to assess the differential impact of policies, programs, and legislation on women and men.
As a statistical agency, our gender-based analysis involves assessing existing sources of data and questioning the assumptions underpinning statistical concepts and collection methods, ensuring that we provide sex-disaggregated data as well as data relevant to both men’s and women's experiences.
Statistics Canada collects and analyzes a wealth of gender statistics. They're available in tables, in microdata form, and in analytic publications. I want to talk about each of these sources of information and provide some examples of each type.
First, let me say that a broad range of gender statistics is available on the Statistics Canada website and all of the agency’s outputs are announced in The Daily, which is Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin.
In preparing for today's session, I conducted a quick search of The Daily for the word “gender”, and I had 82 hits on that particular day. I've put a couple of examples in here. There are many data tables as well as studies. Among the data tables were tables broken down by sex on public colleges and institutions, enrolments, and graduates. There were also data tables on shelters for abused women. Those are just a couple of examples. There were many studies, analytic studies, including recent studies on the rising education of women and the gender earnings gap, gender differences in quits and absenteeism, and employment growth among lone mothers in Canada and the U.S.
Also on Statistics Canada’s website are statistics by subject. Under the subject “Society and Community” you'll find “Women and Gender”, where there are links to the latest releases, data tables, publications, and analytic studies. So there's a wealth of information there.
A joint project between Statistics Canada and Status of Women Canada is a publication called Finding Data on Women: A Guide to Major Sources at Statistics Canada . I've brought copies that I can leave with you in both languages. This excellent resource was recently updated and released in March 2007, and it has summary information on a wide range of surveys and administrative data sources that can be used for gender-based analysis. This publication is available for free on the Status of Women Canada website.
Sex-disaggregated data tables are one of our most important sources of gender statistics. These tables include both statistics and indicators and can be found, through links on or after their release, on the Statistics Canada website under “Summary Tables”. For example, you'll find tables on topics such as days lost per worker by industry and sex and many others. Or you can find them in CANSIM II, which is Statistics Canada’s socio-economic database, for a small fee. In CANSIM II you'll find tables such as the number of women and children residing in shelters by facility type and reason of admission, together with types of smokers by age group and sex. Those are just a couple of tables
These tables are prepared with policy-makers and the general research community in mind, so they're very easy to use. They're broken down not only by sex, but also, as often as possible, by geography and age. They are the basis for much of the gender-based analysis being done across the Canadian federal and provincial governments.
After each census, sex-disaggregated table series are produced, based on the analytic themes for census releases, including labour, families, income, and so on. These are another source of data tables disaggregated by sex.
Finally, if among all of those existing resources government departments and researchers have specific needs that aren't addressed, then custom tables can also be purchased directly from Statistics Canada. It's also possible for policy departments to access microdata to do their own analysis, and many policy departments do this.
For cross-sectional surveys we have a process of assessing disclosure risk that enables us to protect the confidentiality of individuals while releasing the majority of information to the public as public use microdata files. These files are available for the general social survey, the Canadian community health survey, the census, and more are made into public use files.
Statistics Canada has established research data centres across the country where academics and government researchers can access more detailed longitudinal microdata, as well as many fully detailed cross-sectional data files. Access to these microdata files allows researchers to use much more complex, multivariate methods. Some examples of those are the national longitudinal survey of children and youth, the aboriginal peoples survey, the national population health survey, and so on. So it's possible to access the microdata in detail there.
Statistics Canada also produces a range of analytic products using gender statistics. One key publication, which I know you're probably aware of, is a statistical compendium called Women in Canada, and again I've brought copies that I'll leave with you, in both languages. It's been produced every five years since 1985. This report paints a comprehensive gender-based portrait of the Canadian population and it includes sections on population, family status, health, education, paid and unpaid work, and detailed sections on sub-populations such as immigrants, aboriginal people, seniors, and others.
The census tables and analytic releases include gender analysis on such topics as labour, education, and place of work, which complement the table products I talked about earlier.
Other highlights in Canadian gender statistics have included the measurement and valuation of unpaid work and the measurement of family violence and spousal violence.
A full list of the analytical work on gender can be found, as I mentioned, on the website under The Daily, or under the subject link of “Women and Gender”.
I will just mention one more analytic product.
The federal, provincial, and territorial ministers responsible for the Status of Women commissioned a report from Statistics Canada in 1997 called Economic Gender Equality Indicators. These indicators were updated in 2001 and published in our flagship journal of Canadian Social Trends.
Statistical programs are funded either by base funding or by cost-recovery funding. In both situations the norm at Statistics Canada is to collect sex as a variable. Canada has been a leader in the field of gender statistics, largely because of its long history of household surveys, where data are routinely disaggregated by sex. Examples of base-funded surveys specifically addressing issues of gender include the time use survey and the victimization survey, and the census can be seen that way too, because there are many variables in there on family and income. Examples of cost-recovery projects on gender-related issues include the maternity experiences survey, which was funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada, and the transition homes survey, which was funded by the family violence initiative. Those are just a couple of examples.
Although Statistics Canada does not have a special division dedicated to the promotion and production of gender statistics, much expertise in gender analysis exists across the agency. For example, the agency provides resources for our involvement in interagency and expert group meetings of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe on gender statistics--that's a long name. As well, we represented at the UN global program for gender statistics meetings. Resources are also dedicated to special partnership projects such as the Women in Canada publications, which I mentioned, with Status of Women Canada, and the gender and work database project with York University. Those are a couple of examples. That is currently being updated to 2006.
It is through continuous consultation and collaboration with stakeholders and data users and a willingness to innovate that we've made important advances in gender statistics.