Counting Matters

Policy, Practice, and the Limits of Gender Equality Measurement in Canada

Edited by Christina Gabriel and L. Pauline Rankin

UBC Press

Counting Matters considers the ways in which the rise in gender equality measurement contributes to, and falls short of, effective gender equality policy implementation.

As technocrats embrace often contextless indices, questions of the theoretical and practical limitations of measurement arise, especially as they pertain to the social and cultural relations they are meant to be representing.

As the indicators being produced influence the allocation of resources as political decisions but are themselves part of a power regime based on the collection and analysis of data, the importance of uncovering biases and agendas hidden behind the statistics becomes evident.

Gabriel, Rankin, et al. pose critical questions of the ways in which measurement tools manifest within the field of gender equality, pulling from their varied experiences as feminist legal scholars, social science researchers, frontline workers, developers of sex- and gender-sensitive methodologies and measurement devices, and more. They examine the masculinist norms that underpin the Canadian federal government, employ various approaches to reflect on the process of developing GBA/GBA+, and examine the disjuncture between theoretical conceptualizations of policy analysis and how gender analysis functions in practice.

People who are interested in taking meaningful steps towards gender equality, and political actors and social scientists interested in a holistic and nuanced approach to gender equality measurement.

RELATED TOPICS: Gender & Sexuality Studies, Political Science, Public Policy & Administration, Women's Studies

Counting Matters provides an important historical lens and contemporary snapshot of the measurement of gender equality in Canada. This book will have wide-ranging appeal to students, academics, practitioners, and policy makers. Laura Parisi, Gender Studies, University of Victoria

Christina Gabriel is a professor of political science at Carleton University. She has co-authored two books, Containing Diversity: Canada and the Politics of Immigration in the 21st Century, and Selling Diversity: Immigration, Multiculturalism, Employment Equity and Globalization. She has also co-edited Governing International Labour Migration: Current Issues, Challenges and Dilemmas.

L. Pauline Rankin is a professor in the School of Canadian Studies, and the Provost and Vice-President (Academic) at Carleton University. She has co-edited We Still Demand! Redefining Resistance in Sex and Gender Struggles and is co-author of Politics as If Women Mattered: A Political Analysis of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women.

Contributors: Hugh Armstrong, Pat Armstrong, Petrina Beals, Madeline Boscoe, Linda Briskin, Krystel Carrier, Jacqueline Choiniere, Stephanie E. Coen, Marion Doull, Maggie FitzGerald, Joan Grace, Nadia Ibrahim, Holly Johnson, Janet Jull, Lee Lakeman, Leah Levac, Laura Macdonald, Diana Majury, Jessica McCuaig, Marika Morris, Ann Pederson, Jennifer Petkovic, Manuela Popovici, Lorri Puil, Stephanie M. Redden, Vivien Runnels, Beverley J. Shea, Deborah Stienstra, Liam Swiss, Rebecca Tiessen, Sari Tudiver, and Vivian Welch

Introduction / Maggie FitzGerald, Christina Gabriel, and L. Pauline Rankin

1 The Government of Canada’s Gender Results Framework: A Tool in the Construction of Equity for All / Marika Morris

2 Working Toward a Gender-Sensitive Parliament: The Politics of Gender Equality Measurement / Joan Grace

3 Making the Equality Policy Process Visible: Developing a Gender-Based Analysis Plus Framework in the Canada School of Public Service / Stephanie M. Redden

4 Missing the Mark: Measuring Gender Equality in Maternal Health Programs in the Muskoka Initiative / Rebecca Tiessen and Liam Swiss, with the assistance of Krystel Carrier

5 Measuring Care: Neo-liberalism Comes to the Nursing Home / Pat Armstrong, Hugh Armstrong, and Jacqueline Choiniere

6 Sex, Gender, and Systematic Reviews in Health: Building Critical Engagement / Sari Tudiver, Madeline Boscoe, Vivien Runnels, Lorri Puil, Janet Jull, Stephanie E. Coen, Marion Doull, Vivian Welch, Jennifer Petkovic, Ann Pederson, and Beverley J. Shea

7 Violence against Women: A Measure of Inequality / Lee Lakeman, Holly Johnson, Diana Majury, and Manuela Popovici　

8 Measuring Violence against Women: A Multi-Scalar Portrait of Recent Developments, Practices, and Issues / Maggie FitzGerald

9 Gender Equality Measurement, Collective Agency, and Trade Unions: A Way Forward / Linda Briskin

10 Trade Policy and Gender Equality Measurement: The Canadian Government’s Inclusive Trade Strategy / Laura Macdonald and Nadia Ibrahim

11 Advancing Intersectional Considerations in Measuring Gender Equality: A Community Vitality Index in Labrador / Leah Levac, Deborah Stienstra, Petrina Beals, and Jessica McCuaig

Index

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