While the proportion of women appointed as federal judges is incrementally improving—seeing an increase in 2022 from the year prior— parity has yet to be reached among federal court judges, according to new and updated data from Statistics Canada's Centre for Gender, Diversity and Inclusion Statistics released Tuesday.
This data looking at gender distribution among federally appointed judges comes as part of an update to the "Gender Results Framework" meant to track gender equality in Canada. It also included the latest statistics on federal government leadership roles showing, as we know, that fewer women than men are members of Parliament.
"Gender equality for leadership and democratic participation provides a more balanced distribution of men and women at all levels of decision-making, an essential part of a fair and democratic society," said Statistics Canada in its "The Daily" release.
In an update to data first released in January 2022, the proportion of women who were federally appointed judges in Canada increased from 43.8 per cent as of Oct. 1, 2021, to 45.3 per cent as of Oct. 1, 2022.
Comparatively, the proportion of men who were federally appointed judges decreased from 56.2 per cent to 54.7 per cent over the same time period.
Based on data from the Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs Canada, in 2021 of the 1,202 federally appointed judges, 676 were men and 526 were women. In 2022, the number of judges increased to 1,175, of which 643 were men and 532 were women.
The numbers show that the percentage of women in these roles in courts across the country varied.
For example, in both the Yukon and Northwest Territories 100 per cent of federal court judges were women in 2022, though there were just three positions. Whereas, in Saskatchewan 40.4 per cent of that province's 52 federally appointed judges were women, which is up from 35.7 per cent in 2021.
PARITY REMAINS FAR OFF FOR WOMEN IN THE HOUSE
The figures issued Tuesday also show that as was assessed in the immediate aftermath of the 2021 federal election; gender parity in the House of Commons remains a far-off goal given the current rates of representation.
In an update to tables first released in March 2021, Statistics Canada notes that the majority of MPs continue to be men, though the number of women is on the rise.
The proportion of women who were members of Parliament increased from 29.4 per cent as of July 1, 2021, to 30.6 per cent as of July 1, 2022. This is a 1.2 per cent increase between the last Parliament and the current roster sent to Ottawa after the 2021 federal election.
And, while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has sought to uphold gender parity in the federal cabinet, Statistics Canada's figures show that that equity is marginal. Not including the prime minister, the Liberal cabinet continues to be 50 per cent men and 50 per cent women.
However, as the figures show when you factor in Trudeau, 48.7 per cent of cabinet are women. The agency is considering this an increase from 48.6 per cent as of July 1, 2021, and the percentage of men decreased by the same rate. This incremental percentage change is attributable to the size of cabinet itself increasing after the last federal election.
The purpose of gathering and releasing this information, Statistics Canada says is to be able to track the rates of gender representation in elected office and ministerial positions over time.
