Gender equality is an economic issue for businesses, workers, families, and communities. Canada’s data show strong gains in education, employment participation, entrepreneurship, and child care access. The same figures also show that opportunity is not distributed equally, particularly for Black, Indigenous, racialized, 2SLGBTQI+ people, women with disabilities, and people carrying a disproportionate share of unpaid care.
These outcomes are shaped by overlapping factors, including race, ethnicity, Indigeneity, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, immigration status, and geography. Looking at the intersections helps business leaders understand where progress is real and where barriers continue.
Women owned businesses already power the economy
Women are majority owners of about 20% of all businesses in Canada. Majority women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises contribute more than $90 billion in annual revenues and provide close to one million jobs.
Indigenous women demonstrate especially strong entrepreneurial participation. Twenty-three percent own a business, compared with 20% of non-Indigenous women. Canada also has more than 100,000 2SLGBTQI+ owned businesses, which generate over $22 billion in economic activity and employ more than 435,000 people.
Leadership diversity is connected to performance. Organizations led by women are 25% more likely to outperform their peers in profitability and innovation. The business case is already visible in ownership, employment, revenue, and organizational results.
Leadership opportunities have not kept pace
Women account for nearly half of the workforce, but they hold only 37% of management positions. A woman serves as CEO at just 5% of Canadian companies.
The pathway into senior management is narrower for women with intersecting identities. Indigenous women represent 1% of senior management pipelines, Black women 1.8%, 2SLGBTQIA+ women 1.8%, and women with disabilities 3.5%.
Board representation remains similarly limited. In 2025, Indigenous women held 1% of director positions, Black women 2.5%, women with disabilities 1%, and 2SLGBTQIA+ women 1%. These figures show why inclusive succession planning, sponsorship, procurement, financing, and professional networks continue to matter.
Education is a strength but outcomes differ across communities
Most working-age women now hold college or university credentials and have surpassed men in educational attainment, making Canada one of the world’s most educated countries. In 1976, fewer than 30% of women had any postsecondary education.
Among Indigenous women aged 25 to 64, 54% had completed a postsecondary qualification in 2021. That progress exists alongside a gap. Postsecondary completion was 71% among non-Indigenous women, and the share holding a bachelor’s degree or higher was 16% for Indigenous women compared with 37% for non-Indigenous women.
Women also represented 35% of STEM bachelor’s degree holders aged 25 to 64 in 2021. Even when women hold STEM degrees, they are more likely than men with STEM degrees to experience unemployment and lower median salaries.
Workforce growth has not eliminated unequal access
Participation among women aged 25 to 54 reached 85% in 2025, a major increase from 38% in 1976. The employment rate among Indigenous women in that age group rose from 63% in 2015 to 71% in 2025. Yet Indigenous women were still employed at a lower rate than non-Indigenous women in 2025, 71% compared with 80%, and the difference has changed little since 2019.
In 2022, women aged 25 to 54 without disabilities had an employment rate of 84%, compared with 73% for women with disabilities. About 18% of 2SLGBTQI+ people aged 25 to 64 were in the lowest income group, compared with 14% of straight, cisgender people.
Discrimination remains a direct barrier. In 2021, 30% of transgender women and 22% of transgender men reported being denied employment because of gender identity. In 2020, full-time, full-year earnings were $81,900 for cisgender men aged 25 to 64, $68,900 for transgender men, $67,800 for cisgender women, $66,000 for non-binary people, and $64,300 for transgender women.
Child care expands economic participation
Affordable child care supports families and business growth. Since 2019, its expansion has increased Canada’s GDP by more than 1%, approximately $32 billion, and helped more parents, especially women, participate in paid work.
Canada’s Early Learning and Child Care program serves 900,000 children with high-quality, low-cost care and can save a family up to $16,200 per child each year. When care was difficult to find in 2022, 38% of parents changed work or study schedules, 37% reduced their working hours, and 33% paid more than expected.
Women also perform more unpaid care. Each week, they spend four more hours caring for adults and eight more hours caring for children than men. That 12-hour difference can limit paid work, career earnings, business activity, and time to rest.
Income and occupational gaps affect community prosperity
Women remain concentrated in lower-paid work. In 2022, 28% of women and 16% of men worked in the five lowest-paid occupations, including sales and service, care, and administrative support.
Canada has the second highest gender pay gap in the G7. In 2025, women aged 25 to 54 working full time or part time earned 89 cents for every dollar earned by men. The gap is wider for Black, Indigenous, and racialized women. Canada adopted the Pay Equity Act in 2018 to support fair compensation in the federal public service and federally regulated institutions.
Financial differences extend into older age. Senior women earned 26% less than senior men in 2022, an improvement from a 34% gap in 1976. Senior racialized women are the senior women most likely to experience low income or poverty.
In 2021, 19% of senior women lived in unaffordable housing, compared with 14% of senior men. In 2018, 20% of senior women and 15% of senior men lived in households spending 30% or more of income on shelter. In 2024, low-income rates were 30% for children in female-led lone-parent families and 27% for seniors living alone or with people unrelated to them.
A more inclusive economy benefits every community
The data show that women and gender-diverse entrepreneurs, professionals, caregivers, and workers are already central to Canada’s economy. They also show that education alone does not guarantee equal access to employment, leadership, ownership, pay, or long-term financial security.
Business and community institutions can help close those gaps by widening networks, improving access to capital and procurement, making leadership pathways visible, supporting child care and flexibility, and ensuring that accessibility and inclusion are reflected in everyday decisions.
Source
Women and Gender Equality Canada Gender equality facts statistics and impact
https://www.canada.ca/en/women-gender-equality/gender-equality/facts-stats-impact.html
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