Gender-based analysis plus: 2024-25 Departmental Results Report, Women and Gender Equality Canada
Section 1: institutional GBA Plus governance and capacity
Governance
Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus) is an analytical tool used to support the development of responsive and inclusive policies, programs, and other initiatives.
GBA Plus is a process for:
- understanding who is impacted by the issue or opportunity being addressed by the initiative
- identifying how the initiative could be tailored to meet diverse needs of the people most impacted
- anticipating and mitigating any barriers to accessing or benefitting from the initiative
GBA Plus is an intersectional analysis that goes beyond biological (sex) and socio-cultural (gender) differences to consider other factors, such as age, disability, education, ethnicity, economic status, geography (including rurality), language, race, religion, and sexual orientation. Usage of GBA Plus is mandatory in key decision-making processes. This includes Memoranda to Cabinet, Treasury Board submissions, and budget proposals.
In 2025, Canada is celebrating 30 years of continued commitment to GBA Plus. In 2024-25 Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE) implemented a series of initiatives, including:
- further enhancing understanding of intersectionality
- improving access to essential resources, data and support for GBA Plus application
- monitoring its implementation across the federal government
For more information see the main body of the 2024–25 Departmental Results Report.
GBA Plus is an analytical tool that shapes government decision-making. The GBA Plus Framework covers the broader, systematic efforts needed to embed this analysis into government operations. WAGE provides leadership and guidance to support federal departments and agencies implement key elements of the Framework. Internally, the Framework ensures WAGE has the structures and processes in place to apply GBA Plus in a robust and systematic way.
Components of the GBA Plus Framework
In 2024-25, WAGE advanced the implementation of the GBA Plus Framework key parts, both within WAGE and across federal departments and agencies, through the following:
- A responsibility centre: WAGE’s GBA Plus Centre of Expertise established a new governance structure to enhance engagement with federal partners. This included revising Terms of References for the GBA Plus Champions, Advisory Group and Interdepartmental Focal committees.
- Needs assessments: WAGE launched its online GBA Plus Resource Centre to address GBA Plus capacity gaps within federal organizations. This dedicated SharePoint site facilitates the exchange of knowledge, best practices, and expertise on GBA Plus among federal departments and agencies. Following its launch, WAGE updated its GBA Plus intranet page and sent a communiqué to all employees to inform them of this new centre.
- Training and tools: WAGE revised the GBA Plus online introductory course. This course is offered to all federal organizations and is mandatory for all WAGE employees. WAGE also co-hosted a virtual event with the Canada School of Public Service during the 2024 GBA Plus Awareness Week titled Intersectionality in Action: Moving Forward on an Enhanced Approach to GBA Plus. Over 1,700 public servants attended.
- Monitoring: WAGE conducted its 6th GBA Plus Implementation Survey. The survey is a primary tool for monitoring GBA Plus implementation across the federal government. The survey achieved a 72% participation rate. To alleviate the reporting burden on micro-organizations (150 FTEs or less) with limited capacity, WAGE gathered their comments through tailored focus group discussions which increased the participation rate to 79%.
- Pilot initiatives / best practices: In collaboration with the Privy Council Office, Treasury Board Secretariat, and Finance, WAGE delivered on a GBA Plus Quarterly Interdepartmental Committee (IDC) Bulletin, first distributed at the end of December 2024. The aim of this new communication tool is to keep GBA Plus Focal Points informed of important updates on GBA Plus implementation across the federal government and to help IDC members share information so as to promote their efforts.
WAGE GBA Plus Interdepartmental Governance Structure
WAGE continued to deliver on the government’s commitment to support collaboration and ensure a cohesive approach to the framing and parameters of GBA Plus. In 2024-25 WAGE’s GBA Plus Centre of Expertise launched a new governance structure to convene federal partners in a coordinated engagement process to ensure a more robust and intersectional GBA Plus that better reflects the lived experiences of all people living in Canada.
This included the following:
- The GBA Plus Advisory Committee includes WAGE and the central agencies. It guides and ensures the integration of GBA Plus in the Government of Canada’s decision-making processes.
- The Interdepartmental Committee of GBA Plus Focal Points is a network of GBA Plus practitioners that promotes coordination and collaboration in the application of GBA Plus across federal departments and agencies.
- The GBA Plus Champions’ Network, led by WAGE’s GBA Plus champion, advocates for GBA Plus across federal sectors.
Capacity
As a GBA Plus Centre of Expertise, WAGE led the systematic use of GBA Plus throughout the Government of Canada. The Department worked to promote a greater understanding of GBA Plus as an intersectional tool for advancing fairness, equality, and inclusion.
Results from the 2024 GBA Plus Implementation Survey showed continued progress on implementation during 2023-24. It indicated an increase in departments and agencies participating in the GBA Plus online course (97% versus 93% in 2022-23), as well as a significant increase uptake of WAGE’s Step-by-Step Guide (80% versus 73% in 2022-23) and WAGE’s Compendium of tools (73% versus 61% in 2022-23). The survey also confirmed that 85% of federal organizations were already using the GBA Plus Resource Centre, even though it had only launched in 2023-24.
Consistent with previous results, the 2024 GBA Plus Implementation Survey revealed continued improvement in GBA Plus application across all 6 phases of the policy/program development cycle. The most notable gain was in the “analysis and research” phase, where the proportion of organizations applying GBA Plus “almost always to always” rose by 7 percent to 55%. This makes it the second most common phase for GBA Plus integration, just behind “Policy/program evaluation” at 56%.
Similar progress was also evident across a wide range of functional areas. Of 15 areas – including research, procurement, consultations, and front-line services – 14 reported increased GBA Plus integration. The largest gains were in training (up 19%), IM/IT (up 18%), and communications (up 16%).
Human resources (full-time equivalents) dedicated to GBA Plus
In 2024-25, there were 7 FTEs dedicated to supporting GBA Plus.
Section 2: gender and diversity impacts, by program
Core responsibility: Advancing gender equality
WAGE advances gender equality, including social, economic, and political equality through leadership, support, and coordination of targeted policies and programs. It undertakes research, collects and analyzes data, and raises awareness of gender equality issues through outreach and engagement. The Department provides advice to government to achieve Canada’s gender equality outcomes and goals, including advocacy for gender-based budgeting, and facilitates the advancement of gender equality among other partners and stakeholders through its expertise, contribution to research, and funding to community initiatives. The Department serves as a central point for sharing expertise across Canada and with international partners and uses this knowledge to inform and support Canada’s gender equality priorities.
Program name: Community Action and Innovation
Program goals: Through its Community Action and Innovation program, WAGE provides grants and contributions to organizations to implement projects designed to strengthen the sector working to advance gender equality and bring some degree of systemic change in the underlying factors that perpetuate inequality at a local, regional, and national level.
Target population: Although all Canadians ultimately benefit from greater gender equality, certain groups who face systemic barriers that limit their access to opportunities stand to particularly benefit from the Department’s funding to equality-seeking organizations, specifically: women, girls, 2SLGBTQI+ and non-binary individuals, including those who are Indigenous, racialized, youth, immigrants, seniors, low-income, living with disabilities, or residing in northern, remote, rural, or official language minority communities.
Distribution |
Group |
By gender |
Primarily benefits women (60 percent - 79 percent women) |
By income level |
Somewhat benefits low-income individuals (Somewhat progressive) |
By age group |
Primarily benefits youth, children and/or future generations |
Specific demographic group(s) to be monitored
While the new projects signed in 2024-25 will benefit “all Canadians (i.e., rather than specific population groups)”, 33.2% will benefit racialized individuals, 28.5% will benefit 2SLGBTQI+ individuals, 24.7% will benefit Indigenous Peoples, and 23.6% will benefit people living on low incomes.
Key program impacts on gender and diversity
Statistic |
Observed resultsNote de bas de page 1 |
Data source |
Comment |
Percentage of projects funded by the Department that have an impact on reducing systemic barriers to gender equality |
58.7% |
Data collected through final reporting |
Data is from final reports analyzed in the 2024-25 fiscal year. |
Number of organizations supported |
698 |
Data collected through progress and final reporting, as well as the WAGE administrative database |
This is the total of all unique organizations that received funding in 2024-25 (698). |
Number of programs, resources and supports delivered |
7,376 |
Data collected through progress and final reporting |
This result is from the content of reports analyzed in 2024-25. |
Number of people reached |
|
Data collected through progress and final reporting |
This is based on various sources of information, with the source identified after each value. These values were what was available at the time of reporting for this Supplementary Information Table. |
Number of partnerships and collaborations established |
4,367 |
Data collected through progress and final reporting |
This result is from the content analysis of final and progress reports submitted in 2024-25. |
Program name: Expertise and Outreach
Program goals: Through its Expertise and Outreach program, WAGE provides tools, expertise and advice: (1) to federal organizations and central agencies on their proposals to Cabinet and the Treasury Board, (2) to further develop the federal government’s intrinsic capacity to conduct GBA Plus analyses at all stages of policy development and program delivery, including gender-based budgeting; (3) to provincial, territorial and local governments, private sector and civil society organizations that have the levers to address gender equality issues through policy, programming and organizational practices; and (4) to increase public awareness through outreach to the general public.
Target population: While all Canadians benefit from greater gender equality, certain populations are more likely to benefit from this Program, specifically: women, girls, 2SLGBTQI+ and non-binary individuals, including those who are Indigenous, racialized, youth, non-status, refugees, immigrants or newcomers, seniors, living in a northern, remote or rural area, living on a low income, living with disabilities, or living in an official language minority community.
Distribution |
Group |
By gender |
Primarily benefits women (60 percent - 79 percent women) |
By income level |
Somewhat benefits low-income individuals (Somewhat progressive) |
By age group |
No significant inter-generational impacts or impacts generation between youth and seniors |
Specific demographic group(s) to be monitored
This program benefits the target population listed above.
Key program impacts on gender and diversity
Statistic |
Observed resultsNote de bas de page 1 |
Data source |
Comment |
Number of partnerships or coalitions with governments, and international, Indigenous, civil society, private sector, women’s and equality-seeking organizations |
3,776 |
WAGE administrative data |
This measure can be found in the Departmental Results Framework |
Number of federal government data and research gaps filled as identified by the Interdepartmental Committee on Gender Equality |
23 |
WAGE administrative data |
This measure can be found in the Departmental Results Framework |
Percentage of federal organizations satisfied with the Department's tools and resources to incorporate gender equality considerations into their work |
72% |
GBA Plus implementation survey |
This measure can be found in the Departmental Results Framework |
Number of major new federal initiatives (e.g., policies and programs) that include specific measures to advance gender equality |
Not available (Budget 2025 has not been released at time of reporting) |
WAGE administrative data |
This measure can be found in the Departmental Results Framework |
Number of distinct WAGE Knowledge Centre website sessions |
164,743Note de bas de page 2 |
Web Services |
Measure comes from GBV Strategy Horizontal Initiative framework |
Number of engagements with GBV-related social media content hosted by WAGE |
863,500 |
WAGE social media analysis |
Measure comes from GBV Strategy Horizontal Initiative framework |
Percentage of WAGE Knowledge Centre visitors reporting that they apply (use) or intend to apply (use) the evidence products in their work or lives |
94% |
GBV Knowledge Centre pop-up survey |
Measure comes from GBV Strategy Horizontal Initiative framework |
Supplementary information sources
- Office of the Auditor General Report on GBA Plus (“Report 3—Follow-up on Gender-Based Analysis Plus”)
- Management Response and Action Plan on GBA Plus
- Report by the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology “All Together — The Role of Gender-based Analysis Plus in the Policy Process: reducing barriers to an inclusive intersectional policy analysis”
- Government Response to SOCI Report
GBA Plus data collection plan
In 2024-25, WAGE continued to develop and implement reporting tools tailored to each of its grants and contributions program. The tools were designed to better collect project data to monitor indicators and enable the Department to systematically collect project data in a format that greatly improved its ability to analyze the information being collected. In addition, reporting tools were revised to collect data disaggregated by identity and social factor, to monitor outcomes for those population groups. These data began to become available in 2024-25.
WAGE collects information related to the activities funded by the Department, through annual progress and final reports. Through data collection and funded research, the Department focuses on intersectionality and the disaggregation of data by identity factors in order to ensure a comprehensive understanding of issues that can be experienced differently by certain groups, including: Indigenous Peoples; women and girls; men and boys; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and non-binary individuals, queer, two-spirit (2SLGBTQI+) individuals; visible minorities; those living in northern, rural, and remote communities; people with disabilities; children and youth; people living on a low income; newcomers and immigrants to Canada; religious minorities; and seniors. This data and research are used to direct WAGE and other Government of Canada initiatives by powering more robust GBA Plus throughout the initiative lifecycle They also enable the Department to monitor and report on the impacts of its initiatives on diverse populations.