The Honourable Marci Ien, Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth, issued the following statement today on Gender Equality Week:
"Simply put, advancing gender equality benefits everyone. It's good for our economy, leads to greater health and happiness, promotes peace and security, and upholds fairness and justice in communities across the country. We all have a part to play when it comes to making sure everyone has an equal and fair opportunity to participate in political, economic, and social life in Canada.
Today marks the start of Gender Equality Week, a special time to recognize the important progress we've made towards gender equality while also recognizing the important work that lies ahead of us. Let's also remember that these benefits extend to women, men, non-binary people, and people of all gender identities.
This year's theme, Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities, inspires us to continue working together to break down the barriers that hold us back. While we all have the same rights in the eyes of the law, regardless of our gender, we don't all have access to the same opportunities.
We see this though the gender pay gap between women and men, which has decreased by only 5 cents over 20 years, from 2001 to 2021. In 2021, women still earned 88 cents for every dollar earned by men based on the median hourly wage of full-time workers.
According to the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2022, at the current rate of progress, full gender parity will now take 132 years to achieve due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is unacceptable.
To help close this glaring gap, our government supports and funds various projects and initiatives. Since November 2015, we've funded close to 1200 projects aimed at promoting gender equality and ensuring everyone can fully participate in Canadian society.
We've made remarkable progress, but there is still more work to do. During Gender Equality Week, I encourage everyone to share messages of solidarity by using the hashtag #GenderEqualityWeek and using your social media channels to celebrate the individuals and community leaders who continue to fight for equal rights.
Happy Gender Equality Week, everyone!"
