Advancing Equity for Women and Girls

Join us in addressing systemic barriers to employment for immigrant and racialized women and youth in the Greater Toronto Area.

Advancing Equity for Women and Girls is a project that aims to promote the economic security and prosperity of immigrant and racialized women in the Greater Toronto Area.

Our goal is to address systemic barriers to employment to support women’s equality by:

Advancing inclusive policies and practices
Supporting positive distribution of authority, voices and decision-making power
Increasing networks and collaboration with key stakeholders and employers

Project timeline:

1. Consultation with women and young women (June-September 2022)

We conducted consultations with immigrant and racialized women and young women across the GTA. We heard stories about their experiences with the Canadian labour market, barriers to employment, the impact of COVID-19 on their careers, and their recommendations to employers and service providers on how to better welcome women into the Canadian workforce.

16 focus groups were held from mid-July to early August 2022, with a total of 117 participants. To learn about what we heard, read our report by downloading it below.

Download here

2. Consultation with employers and stakeholders (October 2022 – February 2023)

We’re currently in the consultation phase with employers and stakeholders, such as HR professionals, employment service providers, policymakers and community leaders.

Our goals for the consultation phase are:

Raise awareness of the findings of our consultation with women and young women
Gather information from employers on their recruitment, hiring, and retention practices, as well as barriers to recruiting and retaining immigrant and racialized women
Gather information from stakeholders on their experiences working with immigrant and racialized women looking to join the Canadian labour market

We invite stakeholders and employers to join us for our Knowledge Exchange sessions:

Stakeholders – sessions will take place in November and December 2022
Employers – sessions will take place in January and February 2023

Go to the end of the page for the registration links.

3. Development of resources (March – July 2023)

During this stage we will develop a series of key resources, such as workshops, information sessions and a toolkit, for employers to address the barriers identified and facilitate the implementation of DEI best practices.

4. Intervention (August-December 2023)

Using the information gathered, we will launch a series of interventions, including information sessions, social media campaigns, workshops and a toolkit on the implementation of inclusive practices for employers.

This project has been funded through Women and Gender Equality Canada’s Women’s Program.

Eligibility