Thank you for your testimony and your work. The themes you're hitting on line up with what we're hearing from the OECD, which has been evaluating Canada's record on gender parity, and particularly where it intersects with women's success in the economy.
We note the report from this year, which says, “While women earn more bachelor’s degrees than men in Canada, there are lower proportions of women in STEM fields and in doctoral studies. Canadian girls and women perform worse than their male peers in mathematics as teenagers, and these gaps become greater as they move into adulthood”. It very much reflects the testimony you're giving.
Eleven months ago, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women gave an assessment of Canada in relation to how much it has fulfilled its commitments to the UN around gender equality. I'm going to read you just a couple of their concerns and then their recommendations. This is the November 25, 2016, CEDAW report.
Under “Education”, the committee notes with concern—this is in 36(c)—“That women are still concentrated in traditionally female-dominated fields of study and career paths and are underrepresented in vocational training and in certain fields of higher education, such as mathematics, information technology and science”.
The committee recommends, in paragraph 37(b), that Canada “Strengthen its strategies to address discriminatory stereotypes and structural barriers that may deter girls from progressing beyond secondary education and enrolling in traditionally male-dominated fields of study, such as mathematics, information technology and science”.
In 39(b), UN CEDAW recommends that Canada “Adopt effective measures, including skills training and incentives for women to work in non-traditional professions, and temporary special measures to achieve substantive equality of women and men in the labour market and eliminate occupational segregation, both horizontal and vertical, in the public and private sectors, and adopt quotas to enhance the representation of women in managerial positions in companies”.
In paragraph 39(e) the recommendation is to “Take into account the needs of disadvantaged groups of women, especially indigenous, Afro-Canadian, migrant, refugee and asylum-seeking women, as well as women with disabilities, and consider the use of targeted measures, including temporary special measures, to create further employment opportunities for women belonging to such groups”. That's the end of the quote.
That, to me, all sounds very consistent with the testimony that you're hearing in your work as a teacher, for the most part. Does anything stand out for you, as far as of the alignment with what you've seen in your study?