Gearey: In the federal public service, simple gender parity isn’t enough
2025/06/19 1 Comment
Remarkably limited in scope. It’s not just gender parity but representation of visible minorities and Indigenous peoples, along with the intersectionality with gender.
The overall public service record has become much more representative over the years, as any cursory reading of employment equity reports and related data tables demonstrates.
Women visible minorities are slightly greater than the overall percentage of women: 57.8 percent, while Indigenous peoples women are much more strongly represented, 63.4 percent compared to 56.9 percent.
To put departmental diversity variation in context, out of the 31 departments with over 1,000 employees, only 6 do not have gender parity:
Partnership is collective; it doesn’t “give” women anything but rather frees everyone. True gender partnership is architectural — it’s not just paint on the walls. Partnerships must create space for trans women too, whose representation is even more marginal. Broadening partnerships in this way, even beyond binary gender lines, creates more durable and valuable culture change.
This kind of partnership culture-building is especially needed in portfolios such as National Defence, Innovation, Science and Economic Development, and STEM-related departments such as Natural Resources — areas where women remain under-represented and influence is unevenly distributed.
Departments that prioritize inclusion will not only improve productivity and retention, but also align more closely with the values of younger generations entering the workforce.
Still, not all mechanisms for achieving equity have kept pace with the progress they helped achieve. Some public service job postings continue to include criteria restricted to equity groups that include women. If true equity had been realized, women wouldn’t need to tick a box to be counted.
Not all equity groups have progressed at the same pace, so we’re not at a one-size-fits-all approach. Equity must begin with presence before it can refine process.
Tying this up, the risk card — “Diminished Male Relevance” — wasn’t just hypothetical. It captured a fear that progress must come at someone’s expense. Real partnership, however, isn’t subtraction, it’s about choosing to evolve together. If that feels uncomfortable, it likely means we’re getting somewhere.
Source: Gearey: In the federal public service, simple gender parity isn’t enough
About Andrew
Multicultural Meanderings 
i understand the instinct to collect data on diversity. But to me it sounds a lot like quotas.
i work in the PS and my managers have always hired the best person for the job. My team has 4 people. One woman from an African country, one woman from an Asian country, one woman from Sherbrooke Quebec, and me, an invisible minority man from Toronto.