Yes, I'll do it from the perspective of gender-based analysis processes, and Suzanne may want to add to that from the standpoint of indicators, perhaps, if it's of interest.
This tiraillement, this pulling of the blanket—I'm trying to find the right word in English—has been historical and has been with us for many years. I think it's the difference between the notion, carried by a lot of non-governmental organizations, I would say—people from outside the government—who think that gender-based analysis is not a valid tool because it does a comparison between men and women.... I think the groups would rather see a woman-specific tool used in practice, looking solely at the situation of women and not doing any kind of comparison work.
The premise for us, and for many countries around the world—and you're right, we have countries that come to Status of Women Canada practically on a weekly basis to ask for help on their governance structure—is to take the approach of integration into the policy development process, so that the responsibility to consider gender in all policy development and policies is not just the responsibility of a specific group inside government or inside a department, but of policy makers, and it is in all areas of government business, including decision making.
I think some groups would rather have this done more from what they would call an integrated feminist framework, one in which there's a premise.... I'll take an example. I once heard something like if women make up 52% of the population, they should therefore have 52% of the resources out of the budget. They would have premises and then build the process to achieve the premise. This is not something that is conducive to government making.
Perhaps when I retire, I'll switch sides, but I don't think so. My long term in the public service has shown me that when your average policy analyst, who may never have heard of gender, may never have heard or thought that what he or she is about to develop will have a negative impact on women, changes that behaviour, we've reached a result there. In this, Canada is the envy of the world.