Fifty years after its creation, the Council on the Status of Women (CSF) welcomes the progress in Quebec in terms of gender equality. But he deplores, among other things, the violence that Quebec women still suffer. In a new work, the organization revisits one of its flagship documents from 1978 in order to identify the progress made and the progress that remains to be made.
“The issue of violence is unacceptable,” says the president of the CSF, Louise Cordeau, in an interview with Duty. If the population is more aware of this issue than before, the “number of women and girls murdered in Quebec has nevertheless increased from 13 in 2019 to 24 in 2021”, writes the government organization in its book Equality between women and men.
In this work to be published in the spring, the CSF revisited the first opinion it issued in 1978, entitled For Quebec women: equality and independence. At the time, this document containing more than 300 recommendations was a best-seller and served as an overall policy for the Quebec government.
The new volume this time provides a “nuanced” assessment of the status of women and its evolution from 1978 to today. The book is divided into five sections: socialization and sexual stereotypes, health, family, labor market, as well as leisure, artistic creation and power.
We cannot declare victory for any of these themes, raises the director of research and analysis at the CSF, Mélanie Julien. “We are always in the “yes, but”. There has been such progress, such public policy. But when we look at the data, there are still inequalities,” adds the woman who also participated in the interview with Duty in the company of Mme Cordeau.
The weight of the mental load
For example, Quebec women devote even more time to domestic and family responsibilities than men. “They do one hour and two minutes more of unpaid work every day than them,” we detail in the CSF book. Women have a “heavier” mental load than men, to the extent that “they anticipate the tasks to be accomplished more, plan them, accomplish them or delegate them”.
However, “major advances” have been made in several areas since 1978, nuance Mme Julian. In 1997, the creation of the network of early childhood centers enabled many more women to be active in the job market.
But today, many mothers have to delay their return to work or to studies due to lack of daycare space for their toddler, says the president of the CSF. As of September 30, 2023, 32,113 toddlers immediately needed a place in educational childcare, according to the government website.
Another downside is that gaps also persist between Quebec women themselves, mentions Mélanie Julien. “Some women are more disadvantaged, whether they are racialized or have a disability.” In terms of reproductive health, the forced sterilizations suffered by Indigenous people are an example, she illustrates.
Duty of memory
According to the president of the CSF, Louise Cordeau, the new work nevertheless allows us to “recall the colossal work that was accomplished by our predecessors”. “Quebec is a place in the world that is envied for its public policies and for the way in which equality issues are treated. »
Certain facts concerning the condition of women in 1978 may seem shocking to us today, notes Mélanie Julien. “There was a time when we got married and were referred to by our husband’s name — like Mme Fernand Julien, for example. It’s quite fundamental to have put that behind us with the family law reform of 1980,” explains the director of research and analysis at the CSF.
Some changes, however, take time, continues Mme Julian. “The whole issue of violence against women and the education of young people is really work that is done over several generations. Hence the importance of not giving up. »