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Counting Matters

Counting Matters

Policy, Practice, and the Limits of Gender Equality Measurement in Canada

Edited by Christina Gabriel and L. Pauline Rankin

Published by: University of British Columbia Press

Imprint: UBC Press

304 Pages, 152.00 × 229.00 mm

Paperback
9780774870177
Published: December 2024

£29.99

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Hardcover
9780774870160
Published: April 2024

£82.00

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Description
Contents
Authors

Counting Matters examines the ways in which the rise of gender equality measurement contributes to, but falls short of, effective gender equality policy implementation.

As technocrats adopt often contextless indices, questions of the theoretical and practical limitations of measurement arise, especially as they pertain to social and cultural relations.

The indicators being produced influence the allocation of resources as political decisions but are themselves part of a power regime based on the collection and analysis of data, a regime that obfuscates biases and the agendas behind the statistics.

The book's contributors pose critical questions of the ways in which measurement culture manifests within the field of gender equality, asking how it is measured in different policy areas, how we might improve existing practices, and what is revealed through the examination and critique of the "technical turn" in policies that purport to promote gender equality.

Introduction / Maggie FitzGerald, Christina Gabriel, and L. Pauline Rankin

1 The Government of Canada's Gender Results Framework: A Tool in the Construction of Equity for All / Marika Morris

2 Working Toward a Gender-Sensitive Parliament: The Politics of Gender Equality Measurement / Joan Grace

3 Making the Equality Policy Process Visible: Developing a Gender-Based Analysis Plus Framework in the Canada School of Public Service / Stephanie M. Redden

4 Missing the Mark: Measuring Gender Equality in Maternal Health Programs in the Muskoka Initiative / Rebecca Tiessen and Liam Swiss, with the assistance of Krystel Carrier

5 Measuring Care: Neo-liberalism Comes to the Nursing Home / Pat Armstrong, Hugh Armstrong, and Jacqueline Choiniere

6 Sex, Gender, and Systematic Reviews in Health: Building Critical Engagement / Sari Tudiver, Madeline Boscoe, Vivien Runnels, Lorri Puil, Janet Jull, Stephanie E. Coen, Marion Doull, Vivian Welch, Jennifer Petkovic, Ann Pederson, and Beverley J. Shea

7 Violence against Women: A Measure of Inequality / Lee Lakeman, Holly Johnson, Diana Majury, and Manuela Popovici　

8 Measuring Violence against Women: A Multi-Scalar Portrait of Recent Developments, Practices, and Issues / Maggie FitzGerald

9 Gender Equality Measurement, Collective Agency, and Trade Unions: A Way Forward / Linda Briskin

10 Trade Policy and Gender Equality Measurement: The Canadian Government's Inclusive Trade Strategy / Laura Macdonald and Nadia Ibrahim

11 Advancing Intersectional Considerations in Measuring Gender Equality: A Community Vitality Index in Labrador / Leah Levac, Deborah Stienstra, Petrina Beals, and Jessica McCuaig

Index

Christina Gabriel is a professor of political science at Carleton University. She has co-authored two books, Containing Diversity: Canada and the Politics of Immigration in the 21st Century, and Selling Diversity: Immigration, Multiculturalism, Employment Equity and Globalization. She has also co-edited Governing International Labour Migration: Current Issues, Challenges and Dilemmas.

L. Pauline Rankin is a professor in the School of Canadian Studies, and the Provost and Vice-President (Academic) at Carleton University. She has co-edited We Still Demand! Redefining Resistance in Sex and Gender Struggles and is co-author of Politics as If Women Mattered: A Political Analysis of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women.

Contributors: Hugh Armstrong, Pat Armstrong, Petrina Beals, Madeline Boscoe, Linda Briskin, Krystel Carrier, Jacqueline Choiniere, Stephanie E. Coen, Marion Doull, Maggie FitzGerald, Joan Grace, Nadia Ibrahim, Holly Johnson, Janet Jull, Lee Lakeman, Leah Levac, Laura Macdonald, Diana Majury, Jessica McCuaig, Marika Morris, Ann Pederson, Jennifer Petkovic, Manuela Popovici, Lorri Puil, Stephanie M. Redden, Vivien Runnels, Beverley J. Shea, Deborah Stienstra, Liam Swiss, Rebecca Tiessen, Sari Tudiver, and Vivian Welch