JOINT STATEMENT
To mark International Women's Day 2025, Charlotte-Anne Malischewski, Interim Chief Commissioner of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, Lori Straznicky, Pay Equity Commissioner, Marie-Josée Houle, Federal Housing Advocate, and Dianna Scarth, Interim Accessibility Commissioner, issue the following joint statement:
Together, as Canada’s federal human rights leaders, we are joining voices with those around the world who are celebrating International Women’s Day, and are calling for the promotion of rights, equality and empowerment for women and girls across the globe.
We celebrate women of all backgrounds who have helped shape the Canada we know today. We honour the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women and girls who have been the trailblazers, innovators and leaders.
As we celebrate, we are mindful of the realities facing so many women in Canada. The rising cost of living is widening socioeconomic gaps, with many women bearing the brunt. Today, we are reiterating our call for Canada to do more to protect the socioeconomic rights of women in Canada.
It is a call we’ve made to Canada at the United Nations, during their review of Canada’s human rights record related to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. The UN has made several recommendations for Canada to take action to improve the socioeconomic rights of women. It’s time for concrete action.
Women in Canada continue to face significant systemic barriers to social and economic equality. They are at greater risk of job loss, loss of income, poverty, food insecurity, loss of housing, while continuing to face gender wage gaps and still often carrying the burden of caregiving duties.
Women across Canada experience disproportionate levels of housing insecurity — often the result of intimate partner violence, a severe lack of affordable housing, and too few support services for themselves and their children. At worst, women often face the choice between staying in an abusive situation to keep a roof over their heads or becoming homeless.
Housing conditions are most egregious for women who face multiple forms of discrimination based on intersecting identities. For example, women with disabilities, Indigenous women and girls, as well as trans women are among the most impacted by the plight of violence and homelessness. In particular, the transphobia many trans women face negatively impacts their ability to access safe housing and social services.
Women in Canada also continue to experience barriers in the workforce, which are worse for women facing discrimination on multiple fronts. Racialized women face greater difficulty in being hired or promoted, and women with disabilities face barriers to accessibility in the workplace. And while overall, the reality remains that women in Canada are taking home 87 cents for every dollar earned by their male coworkers, that pay gap is even wider for Indigenous, Black and other racialized women, as well as women with disabilities. These socioeconomic gaps not only impact women during their working years, but also beyond their working years, which explains why we are now seeing senior women as the fastest growing demographic of people experiencing homelessness.
We are at an important juncture in our country’s history. As Canada considers the road ahead, it is more vital than ever to ensure that women and girls in Canada are an essential part of the path forward.
Together, let’s work to advance the human rights, equality and empowerment of all women and girls, here in Canada and everywhere — so that every person in Canada can make for themselves the lives they wish, free from barriers, free from inequity, free from discrimination.
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Quick facts
- Women in Canada are only taking home 87 cents, for every dollar earned by their male counterparts. And the pay gap is even wider for Indigenous, Black and other racialized women, as well as women with disabilities.
- 63% of women with disabilities who experience homelessness in their lifetime said it was because of violence, compared to 54% of women without disabilities
- 90% of families using emergency shelters are headed by single women.
Related links
- Participate in the National Housing Council’s review panel on the right to housing for women, Two Spirit, Trans, and gender-diverse people
- Read the Calls for Justice of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
Media contacts
Media Relations
communications@chrc-ccdp.gc.ca