Five things aimed at increasing gender equality

OTTAWA — Finance Minister Bill Morneau said gender equality would be an overarching theme of the 2018 federal budget.

That includes changes for paternity leave and plans for closing the gender wage gap in federally regulated workplaces. Other steps include:

STATUS OF WOMEN CANADA: The Liberal government has been giving Status of Women Canada more and more things to do since coming to power with the promise to implement a feminist agenda, but the agency remained relatively strapped for cash. The budget, which makes it a full department, is changing that. The funding boost includes another $100 million over five years.

TRACKING PROGRESS: The budget went through a full gender-based analysis, which involves considering how every tax or spending measure would impact men and women in different ways, and taking things like age, income, ethnicity and other intersecting factors into account. The Liberals also included a “gender results framework,” which is meant to help them assess the impact this and future budgets will have on the greater goal of improving equality.

SEXUAL ASSAULTS ON CAMPUS: The Liberal government is committing $5.5 million over five years to develop a national framework aimed at addressing gender-based violence at universities and colleges. If a post-secondary institution is not serious enough about dealing with on-campus sexual assault in 2019, the government will consider withdrawing funding.

WOMEN IN NON-TRADITIONAL WORK: The Liberal government wants to increase the participation of women in the workforce — and that includes jobs that have been traditionally dominated by men. The government will allocate $19.9 million over five years, for a pilot apprenticeship incentive grant.

WOMEN AND GIRLS AROUND THE WORLD: The Liberal government is also committing to increasing its overseas humanitarian aid budget by $2 billion over five years.