Canada's Gender Equality Revolution - Free Essay Sample

Introduction

Gender equity refers to the fair treatment of both men and women corresponding to their respective needs. Such may include involving equal treatment or different treatment but that which is equivalent I term of opportunities, rights, and obligations. In the 20th century, there has been a rapid growth of technology that has led to globalization and therefore impacted revolutionary change of gender roles. The social world for both genders has changed over the years. In Canada, the gender revolution provided a greater autonomy for women, which started by recognition of women and later unfolded to benchmarks of inclusions and equality.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Male-Dominated Society

Before the revolution, society in Canada was male-dominated. Women had no significant role to play in decision making and running of the economy. Besides, most of the top positions in administrations and politics were held by men giving fewer opportunities for women participatory and representation. However, the Status of Women Canada worked around the clock to ensure that women have equal opportunities with men and that cases of gender discrimination are eradicated in the region. The focus was on three main priority areas, including encouraging women to democratic participation and leadership, increasing economic security and prosperity for women as well as ending gender-based violence (Sauer, 2018). Such is achieved through developing policies that support gender equity where women are given a voice to contribute equally to men in society. To date, a better part of Canada and the western world have achieved gender equity where women are rising to positions of power and earning legal entitlements. However, full gender parity is yet to be achieved and remains a focus despite such accomplishments and, therefore, the need for more revolution.

The revolution of gender equity matters for various reasons. First, attaining full equity will enable women to contribute to the national economy in terms of policy development and economic decision making. Second, the absence of arbitrary equality between men and women leads to a violation of fundamental human rights. Lastly, promoting gender equality aids in improving the wellbeing of the marginalized populations and eliminating other forms of discrimination based on ethnicity and class, among others. The triggers for the gender equality revolution in Canada was the need for social inclusions and alteration of policies and practices. Various factors increased the contribution of women in the public sphere, including the abolition of marriage bars and banns and other feminist movements (Guppy & Luongo, 2015). Besides, the legalization of abortion, development of divorce laws, and introduction of the birth control method increased the women able to make decisions pertaining hence achieving greater autonomy.

Economic Participation

There have been changes in the rates of economic participation and opportunity in Canada over the century. Initially, the labor force participation for males was higher as compared to women who worked for pay. The few women who contributed to the labor force were single and poor and served in the subordinate positions. Such was as a result of strong social norms that prohibited married women from working due to the formal marriage bars (Guppy & Luongo, 2015). Besides, the event of great depression leads to the loss of job opportunities, and men were given priority over women. Changes in women's participation in the workforce started later in the century, where women went beyond the norm of marriage banns and bars. The growth of married women population in the workforce was also a result of insisting on the need and right to own income, adoption of household technologies, and the increased need for dual-income earning in a family set up. Women also came up with an occupational shift in the workforce, which enhanced their economic participation (Guppy & Luongo, 2015). The stall has aided in merging the gap between men and women in the economic sector hence promoting gender equity. There has been the development of policies through feminist activism that has impacted gender realignments. The feminist movements have gone against the norm, and now women have opportunities to participate in societal governance.

Conclusion

Previously, the concept of gender equity was overlooked in society. There was male dominance, and women had limited or no opportunity to participate in various activities such as governance. However, the revolution started in the 20th century, where women realized their need to participate in multiple sectors such as policy making and economy. In this regard, there was the development of policies and movements to empower women so that they could have a voice in society. Such include the abolition of marriage bars and banns, which prohibited women from participating in the labor force. Besides, the feminist activists went beyond the cultural norms to fight for women's recognition and inclusion in decision and policy-making processes. The impact is the revolution of gender roles, which lead to gender equality, which is upheld in most regions of Canada. To date, both men and women have equal rights to participation, and no one should be discriminated based on gender.

References

Guppy, N., & Luongo, N. (2015). The Rise and Stall of Canada's GenderEquity Revolution. Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue Canadienne de Sociologie, 52(3), 241-265.

Sauer, A. T. (2018). Equality Governance via Policy Analysis?: The Implementation of Gender Impact Assessment in the European Union and Gender-based Analysis in Canada. Transcript Verlag.