Canada ranks second among nations (to Japan) on the Human Development Index compiled by the United Nations. However, when the Index is adjusted for gender disparities, Canada drops to 11th place overall. While the statistical basis upon which the UN compiles its Human Development Index is open to debate the following statistics illustrate the objective realities of gender inequality Canadian women face every day.

1. The average annual wage of women full-time workers in 1991 was $26,842. For men it was $38,567. ¹⁷
2. The average wage of women increased by 14% in the decade of the 1980's, while that of men remained constant. However by 1990, despite a decade of employment equity and increased educational attainment and work experience among women, women's earnings were still just 60.3% those of men. ¹⁸
3. Three out of four earners in the 10 lowest paying occupations are women. Eight out of ten earners in the highest paying occupations are men. ¹⁹
4. The lowest average employment income in 1990 was for child care occupations at $13,518. ²⁰
5. The average income for female lone parent families in 1990 was $26,500. For male lone parent families it was $40,792. There were 165,245 male lone parent families and 788,400 female lone parent families in 1990. ²¹
6. In 1989, only 7% of all full professors at Canadian universities were women. In engineering and applied sciences women accounted for only 15% of lectures and instructors and just 1% of full professors. Even in education faculties, only 15% of full professors were women. ²²
7. 11% of women in 2 parent families with pre-school children missed work in 1991 for family reasons. Only 2% of men in these families had absences from work for family reasons. ²³
8. On average, women who work outside the home for pay spend almost an hour and a half more per day on unpaid household work, including domestic work, primary child care and shopping, than do men - 3.2 hours per day on average over a 7-day week compared with 1.8 hours per day for men. ²⁴
   


9. Four times as many women as men reported that 4 out of 5 domestic responsibilities were mostly theirs. Women said they had the main responsibility for household shopping, cleaning inside the home, looking after ill children and taking children to activities. Men said they had primary responsibility only for "cleaning outside the home." ²⁵
10. 42% of women household maintainers (i.e. the person responsible for mortgage, rent, taxes and upkeep) own their dwelling, compared with 70% of male household maintainers. ²⁶
11. Elderly unattached women are among the poorest Canadians. But, while the percentage of these women living in poverty has gone down since 1980, an increasing proportion of all low income elderly people are women. ²⁷
12. In 1991 - 92, all levels of government expended $1.876 billion on adult correctional services. On an average day, there were 25,712 prisoners serving a custodial sentence. Women accounted for just 1,254 or 9% of all provincial prisoners, and only 354 or 3% of all federal inmates. ²⁸
13. Women account for 10% of all persons charged with violent crimes and 20% of those charged with property crimes. ²⁹
14. Breast cancer is the leading cause of death for Canadian women aged 35 - 54 and the leading cause of death from cancer for women 30 -74. Less than 1% of health care research funds are spent on breast cancer. ³⁰

Taken from "Changing the Landscape: Ending Violence ~ Achieving Equality"
The Canadian Panel on Violence Against Women, 1993