Angry in the Great White North

From the Canadian Press:

Several pro-Conservative Internet blogs have signed onto a campaign to eliminate Status of Women Canada, a Trudeau-era federal agency that promotes women's equality and advancement.

The campaign was kickstarted by REAL Women of Canada, one of Canada's most vocal organizations of social conservatives. It has long urged the federal government to axe Status of Women - but this time its message is being widely discussed and supported among some in the Conservative Internet community.

Monica Lysack of the Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada, a recipient of funding from Status of Women Canada, calls the campaign to eliminate the agency "distasteful."

"There's both anxiety and nervousness out there, but there's also a really solid resolve to ensure that doesn't happen," said Lysack.

"When you look at women in Canada and their human rights compared to international standards, we have a long way to go."

Long way to go compared to international standards? Sounds pretty miserable, doesn't it. Makes you think I'm wrong to call for the elimination of this agency.

So how long is a long, exactly, inasmuch as such things are measured internationally?

According to World Economic Forum, Canada is just seven steps shy of top spot in a survey of the global gender gap:

Seventh overall. Sounds awful.

How was this ranking determined?

The Forum has undertaken this study to facilitate the work of governments, aid agencies and NGOs by providing a benchmarking tool to assess the size of the gender gap, ranking countries according to the level of advancement of their female population.

The Gender Gap Report quantifies the size of the gender gap in 58 countries, including all 30 OECD countries and 28 other emerging markets. The study measures the extent to which women have achieved full equality with men in five critical areas:

• economic participation
• economic opportunity
• political empowerment
• educational attainment
• health and well-being

The study uses a large number of hard data indicators from international organizations as well as qualitative information from the Forum’s own Executive Opinion Survey to create the rankings.

Data from international organizations, not just the host governments. All 30 OECD countries included. Including such enlightened places as the Germany (ranked 9th) and the Netherlands (ranked 14).

Long way to go. Yup.

Don't believe me? OK, let's try another source. The Human Development Reports from the United Nations Development Programme:

Rank	Country	GDI
1	Norway	0.941
2	Iceland	0.940
3	Sweden	0.940
4	Australia	0.938
5	United States	0.935
6	Canada	0.934
7	Netherlands	0.934
8	Belgium	0.931
9	Denmark	0.928
10	Finland	0.928

GEM Rank	Country
1	Iceland
2	Norway
3	Sweden
4	Denmark
5	Finland
6	Netherlands
7	Austria
8	Germany
9	Canada
10	United States

GDI: Gender-related development index (focuses on health and longevity)
GEM: Gender empowerment measure (focuses on political and economic power)

Three different tables. Three different means of measuring gender equality. Three times Canada ranks in the top ten out of the 100 to 180 countries measured.

I have to say that comments like Lysack's, decrying the status of women in this country compared to "international standards" when clearly Canada is doing just fine internationally, suggests supporters of Status of Women Canada don't even check the data anymore. Women will always be victims in Canada, no matter how many times international organizations (including ones despised by conservatives) tell them otherwise.