Statement by the Honourable Maryam Monsef, Minister of International Development Minister for Women and Gender Equality to 63rd Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women

March 12, 2019
New York

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Madame Chair, I am honoured to lead Canada’s delegation again this year, as part of a government that has made significant strides toward a more gender-equitable society, and now as Canada’s Minister of International Development and its first Minister for Women and Gender Equality.

Before I begin, I want to express my sincere condolences, on behalf of the Government of Canada, to the friends and families of the victims of the Ethiopian Airlines crash. I also want to pay tribute to the memory of the humanitarian workers and employees of the United Nations Agencies.

All of us at CSW are impatient to achieve gender equality, but none of us can do it alone.

We are going to need to work together—governments, civil society organizations—including women’s organizations and movements—in Canada and around the world, the UN system and the private sector.

And we are going to need to be innovative in our thinking and approaches. Approaches like the one Canada took as G7 President last year—creating a Gender Equality Advisory Council made up of respected feminist leaders from around the globe to inform, challenge and advise us. We are pleased that the French G7 Presidency is carrying this initiative forward through the 2019 G7 year.

Internationally, Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy has put advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment at the heart of everything that we do. Our goal is that by 2022, 95% of our bilateral international development assistance will go toward advancing gender equality. We are nearly there! In 2017-18, we were already at 90%.

At home, we have made gender budgeting a mandatory and permanent part of the federal budget-making process, and apply the diversity and inclusion lens known as Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) not just to budgets, but to all spending and programming decisions.

Another important step we have taken is creating a full department—of which I am proud to be the first Minister—dedicated solely to the advancement of women and gender equality.

Through this department, we are making substantial investments in women’s organizations, because they are the backbone of the women’s movement, and investing in their sustainability and growth is the single best way to advance gender equality.

This explicit gender-focused approach to government has allowed us to achieve important milestones, of which I would like to share three today.

First, pay equity.

By passing a proactive pay equity law, we took an historic step to help eliminate the gender wage gap. This will not only increase women's financial security, but it will grow the middle class and strengthen the economy.

Second, investing in safe and secure housing.

Canada’s new National Housing Strategy will provide 1 million families with affordable homes. It also aims to dedicate 33% of funds to women and their families fleeing violence, so they have a safe and secure place to call home.

And third, addressing gender-based violence.

We launched the first-ever federal Strategy to Address and Prevent Gender-Based Violence, and have invested more than $200 million to directly support survivors and their families, and create a more responsive legal and justice system. This includes targeted funding and support for groups that are underserved and yet face disproportionate levels of GBV in Canada, including Indigenous women and girls. We have also created a GBV Knowledge Centre to support organizations in their work with survivors, and share data and best practices.

There is no such thing as an initiative that isn’t affected by gender. With that recognition, we can develop social protective systems, infrastructure, and empowerment initiatives that are gender-responsive.

This is true, of course, all over the world. That’s why Canada is working to make our humanitarian assistance more gender-responsive, and to ensure that women and girls’ voices and leadership are valued.

This is of personal importance to me, because I am here, as a testament to what is possible. I came to Canada as a child, as a refugee, with my mother and two sisters, and we were welcomed into a community and a country that valued our voices, that believed we had potential. And now here I am, a Minister of the government of my country—the first Afghan-Canadian to be elected to Parliament, the first Muslim member of Cabinet — working to ensure that the next generation of Canadians, including our Indigenous youth, is afforded the same opportunities.

Canada is proud to share its accomplishments, but we are also humbled to learn from our international partners.

That is why we are so excited to host the Women Deliver Conference in Vancouver in June. It is the world’s largest gathering on the health, rights and well-being of women and girls, but it’s also a global movement to promote gender equality—for everyone, everywhere. We hope you’ll come and share your ideas and best practices.  

We can and will build a more gender equal world by working together. We look forward to working with you, our international partners, toward this important goal.