Analysis provided by: Maggie Smieszek, Legal Expert.

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Canada is recognized as a leader in the advancement of gender equality. For the Government of Canada, gender equality is a value expected to guide the development of all federal policy and legislation. Status of Women Canada (SWC) is the federal government department which promotes gender equality.SWCfocuses its work on improving women's economic autonomy, eliminating systemic violence against women, and generally advancing women's human rights. In a commitment to further the status of women in Canada, SWC is developing the Agenda for Gender Equality (AGE), a framework that will help the Government of Canada to incorporate a gender perspective in its policy development, promote public understanding of the benefits of equality, and engage citizens in its achievements.

TheCanadian Charter of Rights and Freedomprotects the fundamental human rights of all Canadians and has provisions that ensure gender equality. TheCharterprovides a list of the rights to which all Canadians are entitled and describes the Government's responsibility in upholding those rights. Section 28 stipulates that, "notwithstanding anything in thisCharter, the rights and freedoms referred to in it are guaranteed equally to male and female persons". Section 15 of theCharter of Rights and Freedomsspecifically addresses equality right and states that every individual is equal before and under the law, enjoys equal protection and benefit of the law, without discrimination, including discrimination based on sex. The Federal Government and every Canadian province have legislation dealing with human rights, as well as human rights commissions to administer that legislation. They work together to ensure that the rights of every Canadian are protected and that all people are treated with equality and respect.

Family law in Canada is governed federally and provincially. Men and women are considered equal partners in marriage. TheCanadian Constitutiondivides jurisdiction over marriage. Federal Parliament is responsible for the definition of marriage and for divorce law, and applies theDivorce Act. The provinces are responsible for the solemnization of marriage (i.e. the licensing and registration). Matrimonial property is property owned by one or both of married spouses. Under the old common law system, married women did not own matrimonial property. Upon marriage, husband and wife became a single person in the eyes of the law and only the husband could administer that person and the matrimonial property. All Canadian provinces have since then corrected this inequity by enacting legislation which allows married women to own property as if they were single. Separation of property is the legal regime which now applies in all provinces, meaning that each spouse fully owns whatever he or she purchases.

It is difficult to know the full extent of violence against women in Canada, although significant legislative and social support steps have been taken to address the issues. The legislation that addresses violence is theCanadian Criminal Code. Significantly, in 1982, the crimes of rape, indecent assault and attempted rape were abolished and replaced with the offence of sexual assault. Renaming rape to sexual assault was intended to focus attention on the violent aspect of sexual assault and away from its sexual components. The 1982 amendments saw the abolition of the spousal exemption and the alteration or abolition of many of the unique evidentiary rules applied to rape prosecutions. In 1992, the sexual assault provisions were amended again. The amendments included a section defining consent and enumerating circumstances in which consent didn't exist as a matter of law and introduced an "objective" element to the defence of "mistaken belief in consent".

Reproduction is considered a matter of choice in Canada. Women can get a prescription for birth control pills from a doctor. Family planning information is available from government departments of health and public health offices, as well as from local health clinics. Abortion is legal in Canada and available in most hospitals and clinics. Reproductive and genetic technologies in Canada have recently raised many issues. These technologies involve the examination or manipulation of human eggs, sperm, embryos, or other genetic material, to overcome infertility or manipulate the conventional conception process. Examples include donor insemination and in-vitro fertilization. New legislation to address the issues is being considered by the Canadian government.

According to Canadian Courts and legislation, gender discrimination in the workplace occurs when a burden is imposed or a benefit is denied to a person for a reason related to their sex. According to varied legislation, including theEmployment Equity Actand theCanada Labour Code,employers are responsible for providing a work environment that is free from sexual harassment and discrimination based on gender. Employers can be held liable by a court or tribunal if they do not act or take proper steps to address discrimination. In Canada, every province and federal jurisdiction has its own human rights statute. The provincial human rights legislation provides protection against workplace discrimination and harassment only in provincially regulated workplaces in the province. The human rights legislation at the federal level is theCanadian Human Rights Act. It outlaws discrimination in employment and in the delivery of goods and services on eleven grounds, including sex, marital status, and family status. TheCanadian Human Rights Actapplies to people working for either the Federal Government or a private company regulated by the Federal Government. Pregnancy issues in the Canadian workplace have become more prevalent over the last few decades as the number of women in the paid workforce has increased. Significantly, certain provincial human rights statutes may state that the right to equal treatment without discrimination because of sex includes the right to equal treatment without discrimination because a woman is, or may become pregnant.

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