As Canada works to finish the fight against COVID-19, the government is committed to ensuring a strong inclusive economic recovery that addresses systemic gaps and empowers women in the economy.
Today, the Honourable Mary Ng, Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development, announced a new contribution agreement totalling $4.25 million for the Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (WEKH), one of the pillars of the Women Entrepreneurship Strategy, a now $6 billion program to advance women's economic empowerment. This funding will help the WEKH sustain its momentum, advancing its research and expanding its tools and resources to support diverse women entrepreneurs.
The WEKH is an extensive network of over 300 partners-including researchers, business support organizations and key industry leaders-that are working to create a more supportive environment to grow women's entrepreneurship in Canada. By collecting, analyzing and disseminating information, the WEKH helps track progress being made and inform the work ahead to support more women business owners in starting up, scaling up and exporting to new markets.
Minister Ng also marked the release of the WEKH's annual report, the State of Women's Entrepreneurship in Canada 2022. The report focuses on the structural barriers that women entrepreneurs in Canada face, the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on women and ways to move forward. The report shows that women business owners are proactively preparing for economic recovery, improving their businesses' competitiveness, mitigating potential labour shortages and keeping up with future industry changes to ensure their businesses survive and thrive past the pandemic.
This progress builds on the historic investments the government has made since 2015 to support women-like integrating gender-based analysis into policy decisions, legislating pay equity, enhancing the Canada Child Benefit, providing special funding to support women entrepreneurs during the pandemic, and establishing $10-a-day childcare.
