Chapter 8: Beyond Pipelines and Talent Pools: A Comparative Analysis of Women in Senior Leadership Positions Across and Between Sectors in Canada

Canada is recognized as a leader in social policy—introducing universal health care in 1957, multiculturalism as a federal policy in 1971, and legalizing same-sex marriage in 2005—although progress in achieving equity for women and minority groups has lagged behind other countries. Globally, Canada was ranked 20th by the World Economic Forum (2013) with regard to gaps between women and men’s achievements in health, education, economics, and politics. And while Belgium, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, and Spain have enacted mandatory gender board quotas for publicly listed companies and “comply or explain” mechanisms, Canada lacks such proactive equity measures (Albert-Roulhac & Breen, 2005). Federally, Canada introduced Employment Equity legislation in 1986; however, its impact has been uneven, in part because the legislation lacks “teeth” (Reed, 1995).