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45th Parliament, 1st Session
(May 26, 2025 - Present)
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Under Standing Order 108(1), the House of Commons may refer certain matters to the House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women for examination and report. This Order also authorizes the committee to create subcommittees to focus on particular subjects. Under Standing Order 108(2), the committee has the broad authority to study the policies, programs, expenditures (budgetary estimates), and legislation of departments and agencies, including the Department for Women and Gender Equality, that conduct work related to the status of women and gender equality.

The House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women was created during the 38th Parliament in 2004. To establish its initial work plan, the committee undertook a series of consultations with national and regional women’s organizations. During roundtable discussions in November and December 2004, four major themes were identified:

  • the impact of federal government funding to women’s organizations and equality-seeking organizations on their ability to provide services and to advocate for equality;
  • the importance of developing and strengthening the capacity of the federal government to take into consideration the way that gender inequality impacts women’s lives;
  • the continued, disproportionate incidence of poverty among women; and
  • the persistent level of violence experienced by women.

These priority issues helped the committee identify four initial subjects for study:

  • gender-based analysis;
  • funding provided through the Women’s Program at Status of Women Canada;
  • pay equity; and
  • access to maternity and parental benefits for self-employed workers.

Although the Standing Committee on the Status of Women was first established in 2004, there was a precedent for having a separate committee to examine women’s issues. During the 34th Parliament, the Standing Committee on Health and Welfare, Social Affairs, Seniors and the Status of Women struck a Subcommittee on the Status of Women. That subcommittee produced two important reports: a report on violence against women, entitled The War Against Women (1991), and a report on breast cancer, entitled Breast Cancer: Unanswered Questions (1992).

Staff Assigned to the Committee

In the execution of its functions, each committee is normally assisted by a committee clerk, a committee assistant, and one or more analysts. Occasional assistance is also provided by legislative clerks and lawyers from the Office of the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel. These individuals are non-partisan and serve all members of the committee and representatives of all parties equally.

Committee Clerk

The clerk performs their duties and responsibilities under the direction of the committee and its Chair. As an expert in the rules of the House of Commons, the clerk may be requested to give advice to the Chair and members of the committee should a question of procedure arise. The clerk is the coordinator, organizer and liaison officer for the committee, and as such, is in frequent contact with Members’ staff. The clerk is also responsible for inviting witnesses and dealing with all the details regarding their appearance before the committee.

Committee Assistant

The committee assistant provides a wide range of specialized administrative services for the organization of committee meetings and the publishing of documents on the committee’s website. The committee assistant works with the clerk to meet the needs of the committee.

Committee Analyst

The Library of Parliament’s analysts, who are subject-matter experts, provide authoritative, substantive, and timely research, analysis and information to all members of the committee. They are part of the committee’s institutional memory and are a unique resource for parliamentarians. Supported by research librarians, the analysts work individually or in multidisciplinary teams.

Analysts can prepare briefing notes on the subjects being examined, detailed study plans, lists of proposed witnesses, analyses of an issue with a list of suggested questions, background papers, draft reports, news releases, and formal correspondence.

OTHER RESOURCES AVAILABLE AS REQUIRED

Parliamentary Counsel

Within the Office of the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel, parliamentary counsel (Legislation) are available to assist Members who are not in Cabinet with the preparation of private Members’ bills or of amendments to government bills or other bills.

At various stages of the legislative process, Members may propose amendments to bills. Amendments may first be proposed at the committee stage, during a committee’s clause-by-clause review of a bill. Amendments may also be proposed at the report stage, once a bill returns to the House.

Once a bill is sent to committee, the clerk of the committee provides Members the name of the parliamentary counsel (Legislation) responsible for drafting the amendments for that bill.

Legislative Clerk

The legislative clerk serves all members of the committee as a specialist of the process by which a bill becomes law. They are available to give, upon request from Members and their staff, advice on the admissibility of amendments when bills are referred to committee. The legislative clerk organizes the amendments into packages for committee stage, reviews all the committee amendments for procedural admissibility and prepares draft rulings for the Chair.

During clause-by-clause consideration of bills in committee, a legislative clerk is in attendance to assist the committee with any procedural issues that may arise. The legislative clerk can also provide Members with advice regarding the procedural admissibility of report stage amendments. When a bill is sent to committee, the clerk of the committee provides Members the name of the legislative clerk assigned to the bill.

The Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO)

The Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) is an officer of Parliament created by the Parliament of Canada Act who supports Parliament by providing analysis, including analysis of macroeconomic and fiscal policy, for the purposes of raising the quality of parliamentary debate and promoting greater budget transparency and accountability.

The Parliament of Canada Act also provides the PBO with a mandate to, if requested by a committee, estimate the financial cost of any proposal over which Parliament has jurisdiction. Certain committees, including the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates, can also request research and analyses of the nation’s finances or economy, or of the estimates.

Further information on the PBO may be found at: http://www.pbo-dpb.gc.ca/en/.

The House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women studies issues related to the status of women and to gender equality. As well, each fiscal year, the committee has examined the main estimates and the supplementary estimates of the Department for Women and Gender Equality (formerly the Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women).

The committee studied two bills during the 44th Parliament, both of which received Royal Assent:

The committee also completed studies and tabled substantive reports over the past number of years, including: