In recent years, the legal profession and the global community have taken a greater interest in addressing gender diversity.Striving to address barriers faced by racialized licensees, the Law Society of Upper Canada (Law Society) is also following suit.
The Law Society has recently released a communication requiring all licensees to report a “Statement of Principles” in their 2017 Annual Reports, whereby licensees are expected to acknowledge their obligations to promote equity, diversity and inclusion generally. The impetus for this new requirement comes from a 2016 report published by the Law Society, called, “Working together for change: Strategies for addressing issues of systemic racism in the legal profession”. But what is the social and economic landscape on which these efforts are based?
This article will discuss how international trade, Canadian budgetary measures and securities regulation have each addressed gender in areas of major reform. This article is not intended to be a critical analysis of the covered initiatives, but instead a brief overview of what is being done in Canada about gender diversity on an economic level.
Part 1: NAFTA and Women
In 1994, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was implemented, creating one of the largest free trade zones in the world and laying the foundations for strong economic growth for Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Once elected as President of the United States, Donald Trump announced his intention to begin renegotiating NAFTA, intending to resolve issues with trade outlined during his presidential campaign. As a result of this, negotiators from Canada, the United States and Mexico have introduced various measures important to economic prosperity for their respective nations.
From Canada’s end, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has emphasised the importance of including protections for women in the renegotiated NAFTA, taking the position that gender equality is an economic issue. After being successful in including such measures in its trade agreement with Chile, Trudeau intends on extending this effort to the NAFTA negotiations and negotiations for trade agreements with other countries as well (such as the trade agreement between Canada and Israel).
So what do these provisions look like? Well, judging by the trade agreement Canada has recently amended with Chile, it looks like measures from the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (which sets targets for the empowerment of women across the globe) are being adopted. There is a general recognition of the role gender plays in achieving sustainable socioeconomic development, a commitment to implement gender equality laws, and the commitment to promote public knowledge of laws relating to gender equality.
In addition to establishing a “Trade and Gender Committee” composed of members of Chilean and Canadian government institutions, here are some more concrete action plans included in the amendments to the Canada-Chile trade agreement:
- 4. Areas of cooperation may include:
- (a) developing programs to promote women’s full participation and advancement in society by encouraging capacity-building and skills enhancement of women at work, in business, and at senior levels in all sectors of society (including on corporate boards);
- (b) improving women’s access to, and participation and leadership in, science, technology and innovation, including education in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and business;
- (c) promoting financial inclusion and education as well as promoting access to financing and financial assistance;
- (d) advancing women’s leadership and developing women’s networks;
- (e) developing better practices to promote gender equality within enterprises;
- (f) fostering women’s participation in decision-making positions in the public and private sectors;
- (g) promoting female entrepreneurship;
- (h) advancing care policies and programs with a gender and shared social responsibility perspective;
- (i) conducting gender-based analysis;
- (j) sharing methods and procedures for the collection of sex-disaggregated data, the use of indicators, and the analysis of gender-focused statistics related to trade; and
- (k) other issues as agreed by the Parties.
The amendments also include how the activities are to be carried out:
- 5. The Parties may carry out activities in the cooperation areas set out in paragraph 4 through:
- (a) workshops, seminars, dialogues and other forums for exchanging knowledge, experiences and best practices;
- (b) internships, visits and research studies to document and study policies and practices;
- (c) collaborative research and development of best practices in subject-matters of mutual interest;
- (d) specific exchanges of specialized technical knowledge and technical assistance, as appropriate; and
- (e) other activities as agreed by the Parties.
We can already see Canada adopting some of these measures. For instance, Canada has begun conducting a gender-based analysis to policy reform which is intended to identify the ways public policies affect men and women differently (see Part 2 below).
There are various criticisms to Canada’s efforts to include gender in trade agreement discussions. Many see this as window-dressing and a distraction from real economic solutions to trade. The Canadian government has taken the position that this mentality is evidence that more work needs to be done in Canada to understand the importance of gender equality as a necessary means for achieving economic prosperity.
Part 2: Federal Budget and Women
With a view to identifying ways in which policy measures impact men and women differently, the 2016 fall economic statement contained a commitment by the federal government to publishing a gender-based analysis (GBA) of budgetary measures in future federal budgets.
After reviewing Budget 2017, it is evident that the federal government is most concerned with personal income taxes and how income tax measures affect men and women differently. An entire chapter of Budget 2017 is devoted to GBA. Chapter 5 “Equal Opportunity: Budget 2017's Gender Statement” begins with providing various income tax statistics, such as the fact that, on average, men have higher taxable income than women.
Budget 2017 provides one example of the GBA of a particular tax measure:
- Budget 2017 proposes to consolidate the existing Caregiver Credit, Infirm Dependant Credit and Family Caregiver Tax Credit into the new Canada Caregiver Credit.
- Statistics Canada estimates that slightly more women than men are caregivers (about 54 per cent of caregivers were women in 2012). A higher proportion of men claim caregiver tax credits (men make up 55 per cent of all individuals claiming the Caregiver Credit and 59 per cent of those claiming the Infirm Dependant Credit).
It appears the federal government is using GBA to look at whether the caregiver credits are properly targeted. However, the fact that more men are claiming the caregiver tax credits when more women are caregivers does not necessarily mean there is something wrong. Since tax credits are used to reduce taxes payable, it makes more sense that the spouse with higher income claims the credit, irrespective of whether it is that spouse who is actually providing the care. This way, overall, the family unit’s tax liability is reduced.
While the initiative is commendable, a more meaningful analysis is needed. It is not clear how the GBA conducted for the caregiver credit helps further gender equality. While the statistics are interesting, there does not appear to be any gender inequity that needs to be addressed respecting how the caregiver credit is targeted. The government has stated that it intends to work with international partners to resolve these issues.
Part 3: Status of Women in Canada
Many people are not aware that the Government of Canada has a “Status of Women in Canada” program, which is intended to promote equality for women and their full participation in the economic, social and democratic life of Canada. The government of Canada website indicates that Status of Women Canada focuses its efforts in three areas: increasing women's economic security and prosperity; encouraging women's leadership and democratic participation; and ending violence against women and girls.
Just recently, in September 2017, the Honourable Maryam Monsef, Minister of Status of Women, attended the inaugural meeting of the Gender Equality Network Canada. This meeting is the first of five that are to be located across Canada. The network is made up of 150 women leaders from a variety of sectors across the country, and is intended to address systemic barriers to gender equality in Canada.
This initiative is part of an investment of over $18 million by the federal government to support organizations and engage women leaders across the country. These leaders will collaborate as part of a pan-Canadian network to support gender equality at the national level.
Part 4: Canadian Securities Regulators and Women
Having adequate female representation is not only an issue for the legal profession. It is no surprise that a key governance concern for domestic and international organizations has been having adequate female representation on boards. In the Canadian securities context, in 2015, the Canadian Securities Administrators’ Multilateral Staff Notice 58-307 Staff Review of Women on Boards and in Executive Officer Positions was released. The notice requires certain issuers to annually disclose information relating to female representation on boards, including:
- the number and percentage of women on the issuer's board of directors (the board) and in executive officer positions;
- director term limits or other mechanisms of board renewal;
- policies relating to the identification and nomination of women directors;
- consideration of the representation of women in the director identification and nomination process and in executive officer appointments; and
- targets for women on boards and in executive officer positions.
The Ontario provincial government has also commissioned a report to examine ways to further increase the representations of women on boards. Shortly following the release of the report in 2016, the Ontario government stated that by 2019 it would target to have women make up at least 40% of all appointments to every provincial board and agency.
Part 5: What you can do:
There are various things we can all do to help make our mark on gender diversity:
- JOIN! There are numerous organizations and memberships to join that are aimed at providing networking opportunities to women, such as:
- OBA's Women Lawyers Forum: For over 20 years, this section has brought together women from across generations and across the stages of their legal careers, working in different areas of law and in different modalities to provide a forum for networking, education, mentoring and information sharing. This creates an opportunity to honour diversity and learn from each other's experiences and perspectives while working to promote the advancement of women in the legal profession.
- Women’s Law Association of Ontario: The Women’s Law Association of Ontario is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to advancing issues and causes relevant to women in the legal profession through education and awareness programs.
- Ontario Women’s Justice Network (OWJN): The Ontario Women's Justice Network website has accessible legal information about the law's impact on diverse women and youth experiencing violence. It promotes an understanding of the law with respect to violence against women, providing accessible legal information to women and their service providers in a manner that reflects the diverse experiences and realities of women.
- Women in Energy: This organization’s mission is to advance women working in the energy sector (including lawyers). Various programs include capacity-building field trips, free networking meet-ups, an awards recognition program, student bursaries, speed mentoring and more.
- Women in Tax: The Canadian Tax Foundation puts on an annual “Women in Tax” seminar designed to help women working in tax law and accounting to meet each other and build their networks.
- DONATE! There are numerous organizations designed at empowering women in the workplace, such as:
Conclusion
This article has canvassed a few initiatives undertaken in Canada to help further gender equality. While each individual effort on its own may have its imperfections and shortcomings, if enough small and medium sized efforts are made, perhaps real progress can be made, moving us even closer to a gender equal society.