Broader gender focus needed for COVID-19 response, advocates say

Government asked to ensure policies address Canadian women’s needs

OTTAWA—As Canada continues to combat the health and economic impacts of COVID-19, women’s rights advocates say not enough focus has been placed on the unique and often disproportionate impact the pandemic is having on women. Women and Gender Equality Minister Maryam Monsef says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has tasked her department with examining how government spending and policies, including COVID-19 efforts, affect women and men differently — known as “gender-based analysis plus,” or GBA+ — following longstanding Liberal government practice.

But a growing chorus of national and international voices focused on gender equality and human rights say more must be done to ensure Canadian women’s needs are addressed in the government response to this pandemic.

Last week, Trudeau did announce $40 million for women’s shelters and sexual-assault centres across the country. Another $157.5 million has also been earmarked to ensure homeless shelters remain safe and accessible.

Monsef says this funding came after she voiced concern at the cabinet table about the risks women face in situations of domestic or family violence now that Canadians are being told to stay home.

“This hit home for us when the PM had to self-isolate,” she said in a recent interview.

“My team and I got on the phone in that first 48 hours with stakeholders and said, ‘What do we do? What’s our first step?’ And they all said the same thing ... ‘Race and genderbased violence is going to increase, so you’d better start ensuring that shelters have capacity, sexual-assault centres have capacity and that different women’s organizations have capacity,’” Monsef said.

Monsef said her GBA+ unit, which has been mandated since 2016 to examine all memos to cabinet and Treasury Board submissions, has had its phones ringing off the hook since the federal government began rolling out the biggest emergency aid package in Canada’s history.

“I’ve asked them to restructure our machinery so that we can better respond to the fast pace and the high stakes,” she said.

But Katherine Scott, a senior researcher at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, says aside from the funding announced for women’s and sexual-assault shelters, she hasn’t seen much evidence the government is applying a gender lens to its COVID-19 efforts.

“It’s not evident to us that WAGE (Monsef’s Women and Gender Equality Department) is very engaged in this,” Scott said.

“This coronavirus is all about women and yet we’re still waiting for more, or at least we haven’t seen that kind of analysis coming forward yet.” Women are 70 per cent of health and social-service workers worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, which places them at the forefront of the crisis and at greater risk of exposure to the virus.