3. Gender in Federal Canadian Policy Analysis

Chapter three is the first of the two chapters in which I present the analysis of my empirical data.In its first section, I discuss the Canadian political and administrative system as the environment for implementation of Gender-Based Analysis, or GBA.In the second part, I introduce GBA as the main tool used in the Canadian federal bureaucracy.Third, I present empirical findings from the interviews with policy analysis and gender experts from three Canadian federal departments who consented to open use of their interviews.In sub-chapter four, I discuss interviews with Canadian federal employees in all interviewed departments, examining the institutional drivers and factors that hinder systematic GBA implementation.The last section summarizes the state of GBA implementation in the Canadian federal bureaucracy.Before I begin, it should be noted that policy analysis is the term preferred in the public service context in Canada (and the U.S.).Impact assessment is more typically used by private sector developers on a project level in the North-American context. 1 Accordingly, I will use the term policy analysis in this chapter. Canadian Political System and Policy AnalysisCanada has three levels of government: Federal, provincial, and municipal.At the federal level, Canada is a constitutional monarchy with a bicameral, multi-party, parliamentary system-the Westminster system, based on the British model.Legislative and judicial powers are designated in the two Constitution Acts of 1867 and 1982). 2 1 | For a detailed discussion on international IA terminology, see chapter 1.3.; for tool typologies see subchapter 1.6. 2 | Brettel 2009a, 65.involved, analysts work with particular, individually structured, analytical tools or a combination thereof, representing a "contextualized lens." 10 In this environment, GBA can be applied "when appropriate" 11 as a single, independent add-on policy analysis tool.Traditionally, the Canadian model of public administration is marked by compromises made to accommodate the diverse needs of Canada's multi-cultural population, often yielding results that are cooked "not too hot, not too cold." 12This public service attitude is based on a multiculturalist interpretation of the Canadian Charter of Human Rights (1982), stipulated under Section 27. 13 Diversity of representation plays a vital role in this model.In Canada's federal public service the belief is widespread that in order for actions to be fair and inclusive, public sector employees must represent a diversity of gender, race, age, language, ethnic origin or aboriginal status, religion and disability. 14 However, some Canadian feminist researchers, such as Louise Chappell, have pointed out that despite the desire for or appearance of egalitarianism and diversity among public sector services and employees, the default norm continues to be neutral in an androcentric way.Perceptions of "[] appropriate forms of behaviour in the public service are, in fact, masculine." 15 While normative standards of acceptable, expected, rewarded behaviour might consist to be masculinist, the Canadian bureaucracy has feminised.Canada has over 200,000 public servants in the Core Public Administration (CPA), working in 27 federal departments and agencies and managed by the Treasury Board. 16 Employment equity policies in the Canadian bureaucracy seem to have proven effective, at least for women: For instance, in 2010, 54.8 per cent of public sector employees were female and 45.2 per cent were male. 17Another study, however, 10 | Atkinson et al. 2013, 142.11 | The official French translation is Analyse Comparative Entre Les Sexes (ACS), demarcating a theoretical framing disparity between the focus on biological sex in French and the socially constructed gender English.A linguistic analysis of origin and potential consequences for instrument application of those different connotations needs to be conducted before the background of the different Francophone and Anglophone philosophical and theoretical traditions and cannot be covered in the realm of this study.12 | Pal 2004, 200.Despite struggling with questions of framing and fit, participation and control, Canada does attempt to include e.g.indigenous knowledge or questions of sexual governance in its bureaucracy and policy making processes (Abele 2007; Smith 2007; Fleras/Maaka 2010).For questions of the representation of women in Canada's parliament and political parties, consult (Bashevkin 2009).

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