Thank you.
Hello everyone.
I'm very happy to return to this committee. We were here at the beginning, so it's great to have watched your study through the last several months and to have the opportunity to appear again at the closing end of it.
This study is timely because promoting the economic security of women is essential to promoting gender equality and ensuring a better future for women.
As you know, although we have made real strides, there is still more work ahead. The barriers to economic equality that Canadian women face include systemic discrimination in the form of bias. There is also colonialism, which affects aboriginal women in particular, and traditional social norms that make women primarily responsible for providing care.
This study will be helpful as we work collectively to achieve equality for all women, particularly for those most vulnerable, including indigenous women, visible minorities, people with disabilities, youth, and rural women. Achieving equality for all groups of women requires a collaborative effort across the federal government, but also with provincial and territorial governments.
The private sector and civil society also, of course, play a significant role. For this reason, Status of Women has recently launched a new call for proposals for projects that address institutional barriers that limit women's economic security. The call for proposals, entitled “Support for Women's Economic Security”, will fund projects that address the economic security of women across Canada under two separate themes.
The first theme is building partnerships to address systemic barriers. It invites organizations to work together to address the institutional barriers that hold women back and limit their economic security. These barriers include the accessibility of child care, the wage gap, and pay inequity. The second theme is increasing private sector leadership and investments in women. It requires organizations to form partnerships with the private sector to implement solutions that advance women's economic security. Through these partnerships, the private sector can play a leading role in helping to advance gender equality in Canada.
Status of Women Canada has also issued a call for proposals, entitled “Addressing the Economic Security and Prosperity of Indigenous Women”, for projects to support the economic security and prosperity of indigenous women in Canada. This call invites organizations to foster collaboration between indigenous women, indigenous organizations, their communities, and the private sector to support the economic security and prosperity of indigenous women across Canada. These collaborations will build on the strengths of indigenous women, identify opportunities for their economic success, and address issues that limit these opportunities.
These targeted investments through the women's program complement the broader suite of Government of Canada initiatives to address the barriers to women's economic equality. Those of you on the committee who know Status of Women will know that we're really a very teeny agency. We have to work with all federal governments to push the bar on this issue. Since Status of Women Canada last appeared before this committee, we've continued to advance work with our federal partners. Progress is being made on pay equity in the federal jurisdiction. We've been working with Treasury Board Secretariat and the labour program. We've heard from a wide range of stakeholders. Going forward, we'll be incorporating these perspectives into legislation that is due to be tabled in 2018.
Pay equity is only part of the challenge to addressing the gender wage gap. Work is continuing to progress on the early learning and child care framework as well as dedicated funding for on-reserve child care. We're also supporting our federal partners in their efforts to increase women's participation and success in key economic fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, as well as in the skilled trades. Additionally, Status of Women Canada is supporting the development of a progressive trade agenda that promotes gender equality and the engagement of women and diverse populations.
We're also continuing to engage our provincial and territorial counterparts through the forum of FPT ministers responsible for the Status of Women to identify collaborative actions that can be taken to address the gender wage gap, including through data collection. Achieving economic equity for women requires the participation of a wide range of actors working toward sustainable solutions that meet the lifelong economic security needs of women in Canada.
Going forward, to address women's economic security and their equal participation in the economy, it will be imperative to continue to encourage and engage leadership across government; to create and support interdepartmental and interjurisdictional networks to facilitate, among other things, the collection and sharing of disaggregated data; and to encourage collaborative partnerships between government and indigenous leadership and communities, non-governmental organizations, institutions, and the private sector.