With no shortage of gendered inequities to tackle in Canada and abundant research that demonstrates how equality benefits everyone, the CEO of the Canadian Women’s Foundation calls for increased investment in gender equality on Give to Women and Girls Day.
This year, October 11 is inaugurated as Give to Women and Girls Day, since almost 50,000 organizations in the United States are dedicated to women and girls, but they receive less than 2% of charitable giving.
Numbers are tricky to measure in Canada, but that 2% figure seems right to me. It’s the same percentage of corporate and foundation donations that were allocated to services for women and girls in the 1980s. It’s what prompted founding feminists to launch the Canadian Women’s Foundation in 1991. They framed a bold vision of moving philanthropic dollars toward the goal of gender equality in Canada.
They knew achieving that goal would require much more than a 2% investment.
Givers in Canada are generous. They commit more than $16 billion in donations to charitable causes every year. A 30-year analysis of giving patterns finds that more than 60% of these charitable dollars go to health and hospitals, religious causes, and international work.
There’s no shortage of gendered inequities to tackle in Canada today.
The positive impact of this generosity is worthy and important. But most of those dollars are likely not earmarked to domestic gender-equality matters, nor are they committed to individuals and communities affected by gender inequities.
There’s certainly no shortage of gendered inequities to tackle in Canada today. From women’s pervasive poverty to the shocking risk of gender-based violence to corporate and political leadership gaps, our quality of life and advancement opportunities are intimately tied to our gender identities. For those of us dealing with intersecting barriers like racism, poverty, colonial oppression, ableism, and homophobia and transphobia, the inequities and stymied opportunities only intensify.
Mythologies of prosperity can cloud the gravity of gender inequities.
Pair this with the abundance of research that demonstrates how greater gender equality and stronger women’s rights unlock well-being for entire societies, leading to greater peace, safety, and economic stability and happier relationships. The sentiment that gender equality benefits everyone has become a mantra often repeated on the news and across the internet.
So, why only 2%?
Mythologies of prosperity can cloud the gravity of gender inequities. Canada is a well-resourced country, but, of course, not everyone experiences that abundance. Gender pay gaps, especially those faced by racialized women, women with disabilities, and newcomers, illustrate this. Even now, women’s wages are not rising to match mounting inflation, which worsens their high levels of poverty.
Illusions of relative safety might have something to do with it, too. Gender-based violence has been called the shadow global pandemic within the COVID-19 context, and Canada is no exception. Rates of femicide and sexual assault, already too high as a baseline, have spiked. Just because we’re not fighting wars doesn’t mean we’re not facing war zones in our own homes, communities, and workplaces. Pervasive violence against women, girls, and gender-diverse people continues to be an under-recognized state of emergency.
Men hold more giving wealth in Canada as individuals, and given corporate leadership diversity gaps, men likely hold more philanthropic decision-making power there, too.
Our weak investments in gender equality run even deeper. In general, men hold more giving wealth in Canada as individuals, and given corporate leadership diversity gaps, men likely hold more philanthropic decision-making power there, too. Giving often reflects the values and lived experience of givers. It stands to reason that only when donors grow more diverse and when they concertedly give to causes outside of their own lived experiences will giving become more diversified.
We’re also steered by cultural gendered expectations, conscious and unconscious alike, concerning what women’s lives should look like. Women are saddled with expectations of selfless caregiving, the emotional and material weight of family and community support, and unpaid and underpaid labour. In a sense, we expect women’s lives to be difficult and draining. Women’s suffering does not particularly shock or move us, especially when they’re single mothers, racialized, living with a disability, or living in poverty. In a sense, we functionally believe that stress and struggle is their natural lot.
Women, girls, and gender-diverse people make up more than half of our population, but we still speak of them as add-ons, as if they were a niche group with esoteric concerns.
It’s no wonder that our vision of a gender-equal Canada has been narrow.
Women, girls, and gender-diverse people make up more than half of our population, but we still speak of them as add-ons, as if they were a niche group with esoteric concerns.
In the pandemic, 30 years of gender-equality gains have been shaken. For women facing multiple barriers, they didn’t experience many gains in the first place. In the earlier days of the COVID-19 pandemic, emergency government commitments were funnelled to gendered issues, but the 2022 federal budget itself didn’t do much for women or gender equity. I’m hopeful that announced commitments for needs like countrywide affordable childcare will move the needle, but it remains to be seen if the investment will be big enough to make life better for the most vulnerable women and families in Canada.
The reality is that we leave much of the potential that diverse women, girls, and gender-diverse people hold on the table. Year after year, we simply don’t do enough to tap into the ways gender equality will benefit everyone. It’s unfortunate, because I think we know better. Our lack of investment in the power of gender equity is a reoccurring pitfall, and it keeps hurting us all.
Imagine what would happen if that 2% of charitable giving toward domestic gender equality and justice transformed to 10%. Imagine if it rose to parity, up to 50%.
This is where feminist philanthropy has a fresh opportunity to shine. It can fill gendered investment gaps and serve as a key part of the solution we activate today. Imagine what would happen if that 2% of charitable giving toward domestic gender equality and justice transformed to 10%. Imagine if it rose to parity, up to 50%.
We would have the chance to reset what “normal” life is for us, something we understood we needed to do as a result of the hard lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic. Let’s not forget so quickly what we’ve gone through, the reverberations of which we will feel across the places we live, work, and play for years to come. We don’t have to wait for the next crisis or disaster to make a move. We can act now in the spirit of prevention before inevitable shakeups of the future.
I have a reason to be heartened. A core ingredient of feminist philanthropy is sparking systemic change. While feminist philanthropists aim to do what they can to meet people’s immediate needs, they’re also eager to fund efforts to shift power dynamics and change policies and practices with the goal of addressing root causes of injustices and breaking unfair, ineffective status quos.
With the rise of transformative movements that demand lasting change toward truth and reconciliation, anti-racism, and climate justice, we’ve seen more energy sparking around giving to systemic-change efforts than ever. And social justice action that works to unseat entrenched power is exactly what inspires the next generation of donors.
These are exciting, long-awaited trends. Many have said “the future is female.” I’m hopeful that the future of giving in Canada is a future of feminist philanthropy.
