New WEKH reports and Diversity Institute research highlight women’s role in Canada’s economic growth and resilience
As Canada marked International Women’s Day, the Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (WEKH) and the Diversity Institute (DI) share new research showing the growing role of women in strengthening Canada’s economy and innovation.
This research comes at a critical moment for Canada’s economy. As the country seeks to strengthen supply chains, expand trade beyond the United States and accelerate innovation in sectors such as artificial intelligence (AI), infrastructure, aviation, agriculture and more, unlocking the growth potential of women leaders and entrepreneurs will be essential to building a more resilient and competitive economy. Together, the research highlights both the progress women have made across Canada’s economy and the structural barriers that still limit growth and scale.
International Women’s Day: Miles to go before we sleep
This year’s International Women’s Day (IWD) provided an important day to benchmark the progress we have made on gender equality and the gaps that remain. While each year we mark IWD, DI’s work on gender equality in the workplace, in skills development and within entrepreneurship is a year-round endeavour.
“While for some IWD is an annual event, every day must be International Women’s Day,” said Wendy Cukier, Founder of the Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub and the Diversity Institute. “Women have achieved near parity in the workforce, but not in wages, leadership or healthy and inclusive workplaces. Women make the majority of purchasing decisions, yet their needs are often not considered in the design of products, services and policies — often with egregious consequences. Women continue to carry the lion’s share of unpaid care work, but their needs are often not fully considered in the workplace. Access to affordable child care is a game-changer, but challenges remain with implementation. While women are gaining ground in non-traditional sectors, they are still held to higher standards and face many more challenges, particularly if they are Indigenous, racialized, persons with disabilities, or part of the 2SLGBTQ+ community.”
She adds, “stereotypes and bias remain deeply ingrained, and backlash is real. Never in the history of the world has a man been called bossy for showing leadership. Our culture assumes men are bosses. Women who assert themselves, are confident or demonstrate leadership are marginalized because they do not conform to feminine stereotypes. But women who do conform to gendered stereotypes are not taken seriously as leaders.”
Backlash is real and cannot be ignored. Some people seem to think “gender is done,” but it’s not. While most organizations recognize the value of equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI), and Canadians who support EDI in the workplace outnumber those who do not 3:1, there are troubling signs of backsliding and lost momentum. At the same time, there is evidence of remarkable success. We need to double down, particularly in this environment, to dig into the evidence, to validate the experiences of women, and most importantly, to celebrate their successes and contributions and to ensure they have a seat at the table.
“Supporting women entrepreneurs is not only about advancing gender equality, it is about harnessing the power of women who own 20% of businesses and are partners in another 17%,” said Cukier. “At a time of geopolitical uncertainty and shifting trade relationships, women entrepreneurs are demonstrating strong resilience and adaptability. While women entrepreneurs tend to be concentrated in services sectors which are often overlooked, they are gaining ground in priority sectors such as technology, infrastructure, agriculture, health care and clean growth. Supporting women entrepreneurs is critical to diversifying supply chains, strengthening domestic industries and expanding exports to new markets.”
Several recent DI reports highlight the progress that has been made to advance women in the workplace and what remains to be done. The More Than Just Numbers Revisited: Progress on Women in Engineering Since 1992 report, released with the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers, shows how slow progress has been: as of 2022, women made up 25.2% of undergraduate engineering enrolments and only 15% of engineering professionals in Canada.
Our Women in Trades: : Progress Report shows that women constitute only 8.3% of roles in trades, transportation, and equipment. In core Red Seal trades such as electrical, carpentry, plumbing and automotive service, women represent only 4.1-6.3% of apprenticeship registrations.
Our report on Supporting Mental Health and Cognitive Differences in the Workplace: Impact on Employment, Skills and Productivity, with the Environics Institute and supported by the Future Skills Centre, takes an intersectional lens on the experiences of women with disabilities, in particular mental health issues and cognitive differences. The report shows significant differences between men and women in their reporting of disabilities and their impact on the workplace. For young women between the ages of 15 and 24, mental health conditions accounted for 77% of reported disabilities, the highest share among gender or age subgroups. Women with a mental health condition report slightly higher rates of job satisfaction compared to men (69% vs. 62%), although satisfaction remains lower overall compared to the cognitive difference (85% vs. 87% of men) and no condition (77% vs. 80% of men) groups.
Our Survey on Employment and Skills reports with the Environics Institute, supported by the Future Skills Centre Artificial Intelligence at Work and Rising Concerns About the Impact of New Technologies on Employment, show that generative AI could bridge or exacerbate the digital divide. For example, 47% women are embracing AI compared to 53% of men, a much smaller gap than with other technologies.
Our report on Indigenous Peoples in the Workplace: Examining Employment, Training, AI and Discrimination shows distinct patterns among Indigenous women in workplace experiences across employment conditions, well-being, training participation, and technology use. For example, Indigenous Peoples reported that their training resulted in a promotion at a rate of almost double the non-Indigenous population (51% vs 27%). A higher proportion of Indigenous women reported promotions after training compared to men (55% vs 48%). Meanwhile, when asked about their financial outlook over the next 6 months, Indigenous men were much more optimistic than Indigenous women, reporting that their financial situation would be better in 6 months at a proportion almost double that of Indigenous women (58% vs 31%)
The State of Black Economics Report (SOBER) shows the critical contribution of Black workers and entrepreneurs to Canada’s economy while highlighting persistent structural gaps in education pathways and labour market outcomes. Black women represent twice the number of men of African descent on boards of the top 25 companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) by market capitalization. Overall, women of African descent were better represented on boards of directors than in senior management roles.
Research from the Beyond Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA+) report highlights the uneven implementation with an equity, diversity and inclusion and reconciliation lens of GBA+ and that compliance with GBA plus is uneven. The report also highlights the importance of centering Truth and Reconciliation and issues of race and disability rather than treating them as “add ons.” Finally, the report highlighted the critical importance of treating equity, diversity and inclusion as central to serving the needs of an increasingly diverse population and to organizational performance rather than simple matters of compliance or “check boxes.”
From Research to Global Impact
Dr. Wendy Cukier presented highlights from the report and other research when she recently testified before the Senate of Canada’s Standing Committee on Human Rights, which is studying employment equity, emphasizing the importance of continuing work to modernize the Employment Equity Act. Despite the rhetoric and backlash, the link between EDI and organizational performance remains strong, and so does public support. DI research shows that 54% of Canadians view EDI positively, outnumbering the 16% who view it negatively, and women are more likely (57%) to view EDI positively than men (50%). While there is clear evidence that “what gets measured gets done,” and that federally regulated sectors tend to outperform others in terms of the representation of women and other designated groups, Canada’s Employment Equity Act currently covers less than 8% of the total Canadian workforce (roughly 1.54 million employees as of 2020). Significant gaps in implementation also remain.
The Diversity Institute and its regional Hubs actively participated in events around the world centred on IWD in addition to supporting a range of events across Canada, including IWD on the Hill, the Women Inspire with the Casa Foundation for International Business, YWCA Women of Distinction Announcement, and PARO’s IWD celebration and more.
But the work of DI, the Future Skills Centre and WEKH extends beyond Canada’s borders. This month researchers are participating at the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York in a panel themed around Justice for Women Amid North America’s Immigration Policy Shift, hosted by UN Women, CAMEUS, (the North American alliance of Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW), Women Graduates–USA (WG-USA) and The Mexican Federation of University Women (FEMU). Other speakers include Kathleen Bush-Joseph with the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), Dr. Elisa Ortega-Velázquez from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México’s (UNAM’s) Institute of Legal Research, and Dr. Nirshila Chand, DrPH, MPH, a mission-driven public health specialist. DI will focus in particular on what Cukier describes as Canada’s global competitive advantage – our immigrant diaspora.
DI is also well represented at the W20, with Wendy Cukier joining Tania Saba, co-chair of the Canadian W20 delegation and BMO Chair in Diversity and Governance at Université de Montréal, and Tamara Thermitus, Distinguished Boulton Senior Fellow at McGill University, as Canadian W20 delegates at the inception meeting. Saba is co-chairing the working group on the care economy and women’s economic empowerment, and Cukier is participating in the working group on entrepreneurship, which is recognized worldwide for its role in driving inclusive economic growth, innovation, and job creation. The initial Inception Meeting takes place in NYC concurrent with the CSW on Friday, March 13.
Again this year, DI will also participate in the upcoming UN Permanent Forum for People of African Descent in Geneva, bringing a gender and intersectional lens to the discussion. Nancy Mitchell, Director of Consulting at the Diversity Institute; Dr. Mohamed Elmi, Executive Director of the Diversity Institute; and Tamara Thermitus, Senior Fellow at the McGill Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism, will join Gaynel Curry, Independent Expert Member of the UN Permanent Forum for People of African Descent, in a side event examining new global research on the intersectional representation of Black people. The event will also highlight the differentiated experiences of Black women in education, employment, leadership and entrepreneurship.
