Status of Women committee  In our surveys, we ask for the reasons why a person is working on a part-time basis. Is it because of child care or is it because of studies? Is it because she was not able to find a full-time job? We put these questions very objectively. We have quite an extensive data bank that can be used for this kind of study.

Status of Women committee  Certainly.

Status of Women committee  Statistics Canada produces estimates of the value of unpaid household work. These estimates are used to identify the productive activities that are not covered in the current estimate of gross national product. Statistics Canada last measured the value of unpaid household work in 1995, for the reference year 1992.

Status of Women committee  We distribute the data as we collect it. Afterward, it is up to the users to use the data in their own way.

Status of Women committee  We are able to carry out studies over time, and we carry them out. We make repeated investigations, such as social investigations or the census. With that information, we can see how things evolve and see whether the difference between men and women is decreasing or increasing. We can also see the specific fields in which important improvements or changes are happening.

Status of Women committee  First, we work very closely with the users when we define our statistical programs. We define the questions and we define what we will measure, and we do this in close collaboration with the main users of our data. Once this is done, we publish our data. After that, we also work together with the users to make sure that they clearly understand the scope of our data and that they adequately interpret the concepts and data definitions that we provide.

Status of Women committee  We really make sure that the data is available for all users, with a good understanding of the concepts and the definitions. This gives everyone access to data. This data is not accompanied with interpretation, these are statistics, facts that we have gathered, and that we publish and share with all the users who want to utilize them to really understand the situation.

Status of Women committee  Based on the statistics that we have, we can do a considerable amount of analysis in an attempt to explain the differences in pay. I think that we have covered the major reasons for that, statistically speaking, here this morning. It can be explained for the most part because of the overall difference there is between salaries received by men and women.