Much can be said of Canada’s history of women’s rights and gender equality, since much has been done to bridge the gender gap. The emerging generations bear the fruit of past efforts as they witness two of Canada’s thirteen largest provincial/territory legislatures headed by women (the number was three until Marois was booted in the 2014 Quebec elections): Kathleen Wynne for Ontario and Christy Clark for British Columbia. It might be said that this number should be higher, but keeping in mind that the right to hold public office was won by women less than a hundred years ago, it is a remarkable achievement in the grand scheme of things. 

Likewise, Canadian women earn other prestigious titles as well. For example, astronaut and recently appointed director of the National Bank of Canada, Julie Payette, or former Governor-General of Canada and current Secretary-General of La Francophonie, Michaëlle Jean. With this in mind, it’s safe to say Canada has made leaps and bounds since the days women were legally and financially dependant of their husbands.

However, it’s important that we, as a nation, not bask in former glory. This is not to say that we’ve become silent on women’s issues, but we certainly haven’t taken them as seriously as we should have. Aside from the progress in providing equal legal status to women and equalizing access to important opportunities such as education and political participation, the numbers still show that women have yet to be on par with men in some major areas. What’s more, Canadian society is still, while acknowledging progress made, plagued by rape-culture and violence against women.

Firstly, Canada has stagnated in its efforts to balance representation in traditionally male-dominated fields. Take politics and business for example. From 1980 to 1993, the number of elected women in Parliament improved by 13% in 13 years (5% to 18%), but, afterwards, from 1993 to 2011 this number grew a mere 6% in 18 years (18% to 24%)—which is to say women have yet to represent a quarter of our elected federal officials despite accounting for slightly more than half of the nation’s population (see page 199 in The Canadian Regime, by Malcolmson and Meyers for the numbers on representation). Moreover, in the business sector, as the The Economist notes, women in Canada make up a meager 5% of its chief executives. This is not the complete picture, but it’s worth noting the underrepresentation of women in key decision-making roles of society.

Secondly—and this is the point worth stressing most—we’ve entered an age in which rape-culture and violence against women are the pressing yet taboo issues in Canada. Often times Canadians hear about the harm done to women in other parts of the world, all while thinking the matter is much better at home—hence the subtlety of rape-culture. Consider a few key statistics released by StatCan (also see this study and this report for homicide data): 

To illustrate how this might play out in reality, we can take the recent Jian Ghomeshi incident, which has ignited public discourse. Ghomeshi now faces seven counts of sexual assault and one choking charge. At the public’s dismay, we’ve learnt that the assailant has been able to commit these acts over the course of his lifetime, therefore, as Maclean’s writes, Ghomeshi serves as "a case study of systemic failure to address sexual assault and abuse". This said, it’s important for Canadians to continue this conversation about rape-culture and sexual assault; to do otherwise is to sweep the matter under the rug. 

By the same token, the University of Dalhousie has been put under the spotlight as university officials deliberate the fate of a group of male dentistry students who exchanged misogynistic comments about fellow female students on FaceBook. Dalhousie president Florizone commented, as Vice News notes, that "[they] are committed to significant consequences, but those consequences must be based on a just process." The article notes that many are dissatisfied with the university’s response, criticizing it as insufficient and lenient.

The above cases are presented with the intention of showing a side of Canada many are not accustom to seeing. This doesn’t mean Canada is an oppressive country, nor that its members are idle in the face of evil. Rather, the point being made is that we need to reflect and regroup on what sort of society we wish to work for. In this sense, it doesn’t help when political leaders are reluctant; take the movement calling for a national inquiry on the shockingly disproportionate level of missing and murdered aboriginal women. Many studies show this also reflects a systemic flaw, and a national inquiry would provide policy options to remedy the issue, but the Harper government staunchly refuses.

And if all this seems a bit too distant from reality for readers in the Montreal area, specifically from the Vanier College or West Island community, we must painfully recall the incident of a former Vanier student and West Islander, Sherri Thomas, who was murdered by her abusive domestic partner in late 2013. It’s an issue each and every Canadian must face and, ultimately, come together to put an end to these injustices. 

Here are a few petitions related to above issues