At a GlanceReport 3—Follow-up on Gender-Based Analysis Plus
Why we did this audit
- Applying Gender-Based AnalysisGBA Plus to the design and implementation of policies, programs, and initiatives should help to reduce existing and potential inequities based on gender and other intersecting identity factors. In turn, this can lead to better results for Canadians.
- If departments and agencies continue to face challenges in applying GBA Plus, decision makers will not have the information they need to understand how diverse groups of women, men, and gender-diverse people experience programs and initiatives differently. This will also affect possible outcomes for intended recipients.
Our findings
- Actions taken to identify and address barriers to doing gender-based analysis plus did not go far enough.
- One of the challenges identified by most departments and agencies to applying gender-based analysis plus was data availability.
- Women and Gender Equality Canada conducted some monitoring and reporting on the progress of gender-based analysis plus implementation across all of government. However, the department did not use all the information sources that were available.
- Privy Council Office and the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat did not share information with Women and Gender Equality Canada that would help it to monitor progress on implementation over time.
Key facts and figures
- The Office of the Auditor General of Canada performed audits on gender-based analysis in 2009 and in 2015. These audits found that, despite efforts to improve, significant barriers remained to GBA Plus implementation.
- In 2017, the secretariat reviewed 250 out of 366 submissions made between September 2016 and June 2017 with the purpose to identify barriers, assess quality of the GBA Plus impacts included in the submissions, and assess its implementation across government. This exercise was not repeated in future years. The lack of further reviews made it difficult to monitor overall improvements to submissions over time.
- The capacity of many departments and agencies to perform GBA Plus remained a challenge. The results from the latest GBA Plus survey—conducted between January and May 2021—indicated that respondents identified a lack of time or capacity (77% of respondents) and a lack of training and availability of tools/resources (67% of respondents) as barriers to implementing GBA Plus.
Highlights of our recommendations
- Women and Gender Equality Canada should ensure its efforts as a leader and centre of expertise help to advance gender-based analysis plus across all of the federal government.
- The Privy Council Office and the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat should, within their respective mandates, ensure all departments and agencies appropriately implement the GBA Plus Framework and report publicly on their progress.
The Government of Canada uses various measurement frameworks to guide policy decisions and monitor progress. Most notably, the Canadian Indicator Framework was developed in response to the decision to implement the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and is used to measure national progress made toward those goals. Women and Gender Equality Canada is the lead for the goal to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls (Goal 5).
Visit our Sustainable Development page to learn more about sustainable development and the Office of the Auditor General of CanadaOAG.
Related information
| Entities | |
|---|---|
| Completion date | 17 March 2022 |
| Tabling date | 31 May 2022 |
| Related audits |
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