A year ago, Quebec parliamentarians came together and unanimously adopted a motion to retain the word “woman” in all Quebec laws. This initiative aimed to force them to take a position on the subject, given that some of them had previously requested that the word “woman” be eliminated from the expression “woman or carrier person” of Bill 2 on the reform of the family law.
However, it is quite disturbing to note that the word “woman” is nevertheless absent from most of the 2023-2027 strategic plans of Quebec ministries.
Rather, it is replaced by the generic terms “individuals”, “persons”, “victims”, “employees” or others. The Strategic Plan of the Ministry of the Family has even made girls and mothers invisible, preferring the use of the words “children” and “parents”, considered more inclusive.
The disappearance of the word “woman” from these strategic plans is incredibly worrying, because it allows ministries to ignore the specific needs of women, which hinders the achievement of real equality between the sexes in Quebec. As proof, none of the issues related to women’s equality, as raised by the Council on the Status of Women in recent years, found a place in these plans. But there is still more !
Misleading statistics
The invisibility of women also affects government statistical data. Indeed, you should know that Statistics Canada combines the notions of gender and sex (i.e. so-called cisgender and transgender people) in the designation “woman” or “man” in most of its statistical tables. This way of proceeding responds to the directive formulated by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat in 2018 which requires that the “gender of the person” variable be used by default in most analyses.
However, this amalgamation of statistics linked to gender and sex has the effect of disguising the economic, social and political reality of women.
It is difficult, in such a context, to ensure equality between the two sexes, even though it is protected by the Canadian and Quebec charters of human rights and freedoms, as our governments have committed to doing.
Women’s right to equality
Let us remember, it is on the basis of sex that women’s right to equality has been recognized, here and around the world. Indeed, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 affirms the principle of non-discrimination, and proclaims that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights and that everyone can enjoy all the rights and of all the freedoms set out therein, without distinction of any kind, particularly of sex.
Women have a biological reality of their own; they are the females of the human race. This is reflected in their ability to give birth, but also through their stature, their muscular strength and endurance, their particular hormonal cycle (menstruation, breastfeeding, menopause, etc.) and their maternal instinct.
These biological particularities must be valued, because they are what guarantee the very existence of the human race. They must also be taken into account when it comes to ensuring real equality between women and men.
To achieve this, it is essential to recognize women and men as distinct categories.
It is therefore fundamental to distinguish sex from gender and to recognize that the first is an immutable biological reality and the basis of women’s right to equality and that the second (based on feelings) can fluctuate over time, depending on circumstances. Being able to legally modify the sex noted and recorded on one’s birth certificate, rather than simply allowing the possible addition of another gender, is an aberration.
We must also recognize that women have diverse personalities, and reducing them to one gender, often associated with sexual stereotypes, violates their right to equality.
Discrimination based on gender expression or identity, as well as sex, is, as it should be, prohibited. But denying the reality of a group (women, in this case) is rarely a guarantee of success in terms of inclusion and respect, quite the contrary.
The erasure of women in the strategic plans of ministries as well as the current prevalence of gender identity over the sex identifier in public statistics, which are increasingly reflected in the private space, have the effect of makes women invisible and directly clashes with the right to equality between women and men, even though it is protected by the Quebec and Canadian charters.