While
gender-based analysis is at the heart of feminism, it is a relatively
new concept in most government circles, and had gained a lot of political
currency. Having identified this analytic approach as one of its highest
priorities, Status of Women Canada issued a guide
(en français)
to gender-based analysis, which is defined as follows:
"Gender-based
analysis is a process that assesses the differential impact of proposed
and/or existing policies, programs and legislation on women and men.
It makes it possible
for policy to be undertaken with an appreciation of gender differences,
of the nature of relationships between women and men and of their different
social realities, life expectations and economic circumstances.
It is a tool
for understanding social processes and for responding with informed
and equitable options."
A particular application
of such analysis is contained, for example, in an article
describing a gender analysis of access to the Internet and examining
policies required to ensure such access. A more recent example of how
gender-based analysis becomes a hot policy issue is buried in a progress
[the following link, links to a PDF document for which you need an Acrobat
Reader] available report
(rapport)
submitted to, endorsed by, and made public by the Premiers' annual meeting
in August of 1999.
This report was
from the provincial-territorial working group on social policy reform
and renewal, and among the recommendations in the report endorsed by
the Premiers was a reiteration of the working group commitment "to
gender analysis in social policy renewal."
To date, such analysis
has either not been carried out, or not made public. Status of Women
Canada has also committed itself to refining the application of its
existing economic
gender equality indicators (indicateurs
économiques de l'égalité entre les sexes)
to specific policy areas.
A guide to Gender-Based
Analysis of Canadian public policy: Women
Matter: Gender, Development and Policy, by Martha Muzychka, March
1995 (Provincial Advisory Council on the Status of Women, Newfoundland
and Labrador)