News Releases

News Releases October 30, 1997 ECONOMIC EQUALITY BENCHMARKS RELEASED BY FEDERAL - PROVINCIAL / TERRITORIAL MINISTERS

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia . -- A set of economic indicators, recognizing both differences and similarities in the lives of women and men, was released today at a Federal - Provincial / Territorial meeting of Ministers Responsible for the Status of Women.

The Economic Gender Equality Indicators , a set of benchmarks that, taken together, reflect core, interrelated aspects of women’s and men’s economic lives, were designed to enhance understanding of women’s realities that are often overlooked, including income from a variety of sources in addition to earnings; unpaid as well as paid work; and education and job-related training.

Among the report’s key findings are a narrowing of gender gaps in earnings and income between 1986 and 1995 across Canada. Women made inroads into male-dominated educational fields and female graduates improved their chances of getting “good” jobs . There was also a better sharing of paid and unpaid work in 1992 than in 1986.

But the report identified that significant gaps remain: women receive less income and employer-sponsored training, yet they put in a longer work day than men. Closing gender gaps will require solutions within the labour market as well as outside it.

The Federal-Provincial/Territorial Ministers commissioned the development of these indicators to contribute to the knowledge base and gender analysis capacity that effective social and economic policy requires. The report is designed for use by government and other players in the public policy process to raise awareness of women’s and men’s realities, stimulate public policy discussion, encourage a search for explanations and responses and monitor change over time.