Gender Equality in Canada through the Prism of Political Party Documentation and Programs

This chapter critically examines gender equality within Canadian party politics, with a specific focus on six principal political entities: the Liberal Party of Canada, the Conservative Party of Canada, the Bloc Québécois, the New Democratic Party, the Green Party of Canada, and the People’s Party of Canada. It investigates the extent to which these parties address women’s rights and gender equality within their respective party documentation and programmatic agendas. Utilizing a comparative analytical approach, it seeks to elucidate both convergences and divergences in how Canadian political parties address gender equality concerns. To this end, a lexicometric analysis was employed to quantify the occurrence of terms such as ‘woman’, ‘female’, and ‘gender’ in party documentation. Additionally, qualitative methodologies were applied to contextualize the utilization of such terminology. Mirroring patterns observed in other countries, left-leaning and liberal parties are expected to demonstrate greater attentiveness to women’s rights and gender equality issues in their official documents compared to their conservative counterparts. However, this pattern primarily applies to the constitutions of Canadian parties. Regarding the programmatic space, there is a broad consensus encompassing the majority of Canadian parties. It is only questioned by the People’s Party of Canada. An interesting position is also held by the Bloc Québécois, which, despite supporting feminist demands, as a separatist party, pays less attention to gender equality. The prominence of concerns regarding Indigenous women in the agendas of most Canadian parties underscores the progression of Canadian feminism.