Women lose ground in push for equality: report

The CBC is reporting on the response by The Canadian Labour Congress, along with the Canadian Teachers' Federation and the Feminist Alliance for International Action to the Canadian Govt's report on equality submitted to the UN last fall.

In their own report, titled Reality Check: Women in Canada and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action Fifteen Years On, the group counters the original report stating that:

• Canada fell to 25th from 7th in the World Economic Forum gender gap index
• The government's decision to eliminate the phrase "gender equality" from the mandate of Status of Women Canada
• The closing of 12 of 16 Status of Women offices
• The elimination of funding to a program for court challenges related to equality rightshiring and promotion in academic institutions has not kept pace with significant gains in education
• Female academics earn 79 cents for every dollar their male counterparts earn
• Women currently account for 22.1 per cent of members of Parliament, even though they make up just over 50 per cent of the population
• Scrapping a nascent $5 billion over five years national child care program

With the current restrictions to its funding and mandate of Status of Women Canada and the lack of a comprehensive government-wide action plan ongender equality, Canada has little institutional capacity to protect andadvance women’s rights.

UPDATE: The Star is reporting on the report as well. Odd that neither article links to the REPORT ITSELF.