Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do

Raison d’être

The Office of the Co-ordinator, Status of Women, known as Status of Women Canada (SWC), is a federal government agency that promotes equality between women and men in all aspects of Canadian life. The mandate of SWC is “to coordinate policy with respect to the status of women and administer related programs” (1976).

SWC is responsible for exercising leadership and working in partnership to promote and advance equality by: supporting action that will lead to equality by helping to create conditions for success for women and girls in Canada; providing expert advice on gender equality and Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA+) in the development of effective programs, policies and legislation for all Canadians; promoting commemorative dates related to women and girls in Canada; and supporting Canada’s efforts to meet international obligations.

SWC works to promote and advance equality for women and girls, focusing its efforts in three areas: improving women’s and girls’ economic security and prosperity; ending violence against women and girls; and supporting the advancement and increased representation of women and girls in leadership and decision-making roles. While SWC focuses on these three areas, the Agency is able to address specific issues, such as gender-based violence, the economic security and prosperity of women in rural and remote communities, and women’s full participation in Canada’s democratic and public life.

Mandate and role

SWC is the primary federal agency responsible for supporting the Government’s obligations and commitments to achieve equality for all Canadian women and girls. Gender equality issues permeate every aspect of society whether in economic, political, social, scientific or cultural domains, and as such, gender equality contributes to nation-building.

Other federal departments and the governments of the provinces and territories have responsibility for delivering programs and services directly to women and girls. The Agency focuses its efforts on building awareness, knowledge and capacity in order to bring about institutional and systemic changes aligned with Government of Canada responsibilities and priorities. To accomplish this, the Agency collaborates with a wide range of organizations, key stakeholders in all levels of government as well as the private and voluntary sectors.

As the Government of Canada’s centre of expertise on gender equality issues, SWC is a knowledge broker and facilitator; the Agency offers input, advice and strategic support to other federal government departments and agencies, conducts policy analysis, and makes strategic interventions at both the domestic and international levels.

One of SWC’s key responsibilities is to help build capacity and tools to foster the full integration of GBA+ across Government. GBA+ takes into account gender and other identity factors (such as age, education, language, geography, culture and income) to assess the potential impacts of initiatives on diverse groups of women and men. Integrating a robust GBA+ in the development, delivery and assessment of legislation, policies, programs, services and other initiatives is crucial to ensure that they work to advance gender equality. In partnership with the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) and the Privy Council Office (PCO), SWC also monitors the implementation of the Government’s commitment to GBA+ across federal departments and agencies.

Through the Women’s Program, SWC provides financial support to communities and stakeholders that work to foster the type of system-level changes that advance equality between women and men, and have a clear potential for making a difference in the lives of women and girls in Canada.

To raise awareness of gender equality issues in Canada, past achievements, and the work that remains, SWC promotes commemorative dates such as: International Women’s Day (March 8), Women’s History Month (October), the International Day of the Girl (October 11), Persons Day (October 18) and the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women (December 6).

For more general information about the organization, see the “Supplementary information” section of this report. For more information on Status of Women Canada’s organizational mandate letter commitments, see the Minister’s mandate letter on the Prime Minister of Canada's website.

Date modified:

2018-11-20