Standing Committee on the Status of Women

Comité permanent de la condition féminine

For immediate release

Ottawa, May 3, 2016 -

The House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women invites the public to submit written briefs for the Committee’s upcoming study on Gender-Based Analysis in the Federal Government.

At the federal level, gender-based analysis plus (GBA+) is an analytical tool employed by the federal government to improve and advance gender equality in Canada. Starting in 1995, the Government of Canada committed to using GBA+ in the development and implementation of policies, programs and legislation. All departments and agencies are encouraged to conduct GBA+ and to monitor and report on the results of such analysis.

According to Status of Women Canada – the agency that takes the leadership role in supporting GBA+ throughout the federal government – GBA+ can assess the possible impacts of legislation, policies, programs or initiatives on diverse groups of women and men, girls and boys, by taking into consideration gender and other identity factors. The “plus” in GBA+ incorporates a range of intersecting identity factors, such as age, education, language, geography, culture and income.

The impetus for the study was the Auditor General’s Report 1 of the 2015 Fall Reports of the Auditor General of Canada, entitled Implementing Gender-Based Analysis, which provided the results of an audit of the implementation of GBA+ at the federal level. The report concluded that the departments surveyed were not always performing GBA+ to guide government decision making and those departments that had implemented the GBA+ framework were not regularly conducting complete or high-quality analyses.

The Committee requests the submission of written briefs on the topic of gender-based analysis, and in particular details on the implementation of GBA+ at the federal level in Canada, success stories of the implementation of gender-based analysis in other jurisdictions, and recommendations on how to improve the implementation of GBA+ in the federal government.

The deadline for the Committee to receive written briefs from the public is Thursday, May 12, 2016. Briefs should not exceed ten pages in length. Witnesses submitting briefs in only one official language should do so at least five working days before the deadline in order to allow time for translation. Briefs should be sent electronically to the Committee Clerk at FEWO@parl.gc.ca. Please see the Guide for Submitting Briefs to House of Commons Committees for further information.

The Committee also invites members of the public to take the online course on GBA+, provided by Status of Women Canada.