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Our Fact Sheets provide basic information to a wide audience in plain language about important women's equality issues. We want to raise awareness that these women's equality issues are important, relevant to all people, and that individuals and groups can take action to do something about these problems.

Women’s experiences of social programs for people with low incomes (2007) PDF Format
This fact sheet weaves together the voices of women with critical analysis and detailed evidence on how the devolution of social programs has impacted on diverse low-income women’s lives.  It provides important evidence as to why and how listening to women’s voices is critical to knowing the real issues in policy making and programming.  It is based on a 2007 study entitled Integrating the voices of low-income women into policy discussions on the Canada Social Transfer CST: First Nations women in Vancouver, immigrant and refugee women in Calgary and women with disabilities in Winnipeg.  It combines existing quantitative research with new qualitative research based on the perspectives of policy makers, social service providers, low-income First Nations, immigrant, refugee women and women with disabilities from three Canadian cities. 

New Federal Policies Affecting Women's Equality: Reality Check (2006)  PDF Format | Text Format
In 2006, the federal government made a number of important changes affecting women’s equality provisions. In addition to cutbacks, the elimination of some programs and changes to others, some government equality commitments to action were stalled or reversed. The justifications for these measures were that women are strong, already equal, and don’t need these policy supports. Although we have equality rights on paper, we need to do much more work to make these equality rights a reality for all women in Canada.

Women and Poverty (Third Edition - 2005)     PDF Format | Text Format
Women and poverty are connected for many reasons. Various structural factors work towards making women more vulnerable to poverty, or to keeping them in poverty. Over the last decade, Canada has been moving towards a different model for its economy, drastically cutting social services.

Women, Peace and Security (2004)     PDF Format | Text Format
Who and what is a real security threat? This fact sheet presents a different view. It takes into account women’s perspectives on security, and the impact of security issues on Canadian women.

Immigrant and Refugee Women (2003)  PDF Format | Text Format
Only 4% of Canadians are not immigrants or descendents of immigrants. Only Aboriginal peoples are native to this land, and have lived and died here for 10,000 years. Thirty percent of Canadian women have themselves immigrated here from somewhere else and this population is growing four times faster than the population of Canadian-born women. 

Women's Experience of Racism (2002)   PDF Format | Text Format
The purpose of this fact sheet is to provide easy to understand statistical information and research on how women experience racism, and to provide suggestions for resources and action. We hope it serve as a basic introduction for people with no knowledge of how race and gender affect women's lives.

Violence Against Women and Girls - Revised 2002    PDF Format | Text Format
Violence can be physical (such as punching, kicking, choking, stabbing, mutilation, disabling, murder), sexual (such as rape, any unwanted touching or act of a sexual nature, forced prostitution), verbal/psychological (such as threats to harm the children, destruction of favourite clothes or photographs, repeated insults meant to demean and erode self-esteem, forced isolation from friends and relatives, threats of further violence or deportation if the woman attempts to leave), stalking (such as persistent and unwanted attention, following and spying, monitoring of mail or conversations), financial (such as taking away a woman's wages or other income, limiting or forbidding access to the family income), and other forms of control and abuse of power.

Women, Health and Action - 2001    PDF Format | Text Format
What makes us healthy? We all know about fruits and vegetables, but did you know that the 12 determinants of health identified by Health Canada are: income and social status, employment, education, social environments, physical environments, healthy childhood development, personal health practices and coping skills, health services, social support networks, biology and genetic endowment, gender, and culture.1 What kind of society we live in has a huge impact on our health. That's why this health fact sheet isn't just about eating apples, it's about changing the world. It's about women taking control of our own health and our society's health.

Canadian Women in the Global Economy -1999   Text Format
Across the world, women contribute to their local economies through their paid and unpaid work. "In virtually every country of the world, women work longer hours than men, yet share less in the economic rewards." (Human Development Report 1995). We are told, however, by the media, economists, and politicians that the economy is driven by the "invisible hand" of the market, forces out of our control, transnational businesses and globalization. This encourages us to leave decisions about the economy to the "experts", to those who understand the economy and to those who supposedly "make a difference" in economic terms.
This fact sheet is a technical report which introduces  the major international and inter-governmental players in the global economy within the context of existing commitments made by  Canadian governments on women and the economy. As a reference guide, it provides information on where international economic decisions are made, who in Canada is working in these areas and where women could be active.

Quick Facts....

Women, poverty and Canadian public policy in an era of globalization -  2000
There are 2.8 million women in Canada living in poverty. That's one in five women. Fifty-six percent of the poor in Canada are women.  Some, like the Fraser Institute, think that this means there's something wrong with how poverty is measured. Others, who have lived in places like Vancouver's downtown eastside or Aboriginal communities without sewage systems or clean, running water know the realities of poverty in Canada. 

Some facts and dates in Canadian women's history of the 20th century - 2000
A thousand years ago only certain cultures, such as the Mohawk, offered women any kind of equality, such as matrilineal descent and the choosing of chiefs.  Today, just like one thousand years ago, some women around the world are still sold into prostitution, forced to marry against their will, have no right or access  to birth control or abortion, have little access to education, and are completely economically dependent on men.