Women's educational attainment
- In 2025, 71% of women aged 25 to 64 held a college or university credential, up from 61% in 2015. In comparison, 57% of men held a college or university credential in 2025, up from 49% in 2015.Footnote 1
- The increase in the postsecondary attainment among women over this period was largely driven by increases at the university level, whereas their men counterparts were more likely to pursue skill-focused education leading directly to the labour market.Footnote 2
- From 2010/2011 to 2024/2025, the number of women enrolled in STEMFootnote 3 programs in Canadian postsecondary educational institutions increased by 78.3% (from 137,934 to 245,925)Footnote 4Footnote 5. In comparison, the number of men enrolled in STEM programs increased by 52.6% over this period (from 247,902 to 378,369).Footnote 6
- Despite increases in women's enrollment in STEM programs over time, they still accounted for less than two-fifths (38.7%) of students enrolled in STEM programs in 2024/2025.Footnote 7
Women in the economy
- In 2025, 85.0% of women aged 25 to 54 participated in the labour force, up from 52.3% in 1976.Footnote 8 The gap in labour force participation between women and men in this age group decreased from 42.2 percentage points in 1976 to 6.9 percentage points in 2025.Footnote 9
- Among those aged 25 to 54, 87.3% of Filipino women were employed in 2025, higher than the employment rate of all women in this age group (80.0%), whereas the employment rates of all other groups of racialized women were lower.Footnote 10Footnote 11
- Among workers aged 25 to 54, women earned, on average, 89 cents for every dollar earned by men in 2025, up from 81 cents in 1997.Footnote 12
- Indigenous women earned, on average, 80 cents, while racialized women earned 77 cents, for every dollar earned by non-Indigenous, non-racialized men in 2025.Footnote 13 In comparison, non-Indigenous, non-racialized women of the same age earned 89 cents for every dollar earned by non-Indigenous, non-racialized men.Footnote 14
Women in leadership positions
- Between 2005 and 2025, the share of women among those aged 15 and older in senior management occupationsFootnote 15 increased from 24.1% to 31.6%, while their representation in middle management occupationsFootnote 16 remained relatively stable (35.3% in 2005 vs. 36.9% in 2025).Footnote 17
- Women's representation on boards of directorsFootnote 18 of corporations in Canada increased from 17.2% in 2016 to 23.2% in 2023, and their share of top officersFootnote 19 increased from 16.2% to 21.7% over the same period.Footnote 20 Still, men made up over three-quarters (76.8%) of directors, and nearly four-fifths (78.3%) of top officers in 2023.Footnote 21
Perceptions of gender-based violence and gender equality
- In 2025, the majority of people 15 years of age and older disagreed with statements that accept, excuse or legitimize behaviours related to gender-based violence in 2025. A slightly larger proportion of people disagreed with most of these statements in 2025 than in 2018.Footnote 22
- In 2025, most people agreed that women face significant obstacles to getting ahead compared with men, although women (75%) were more likely than men (52%) to feel this way. A slightly higher proportion of women agreed with this statement in 2025 than in 2018 (72%), while among men, a smaller proportion agreed in 2025 than in 2018 (55%).Footnote 23
Note to readers
This product summarizes findings from different data sources that use measures of "sex" (in certain reference years) or "gender." Although "sex" and "gender" refer to different concepts, the terminology related to gender is used throughout this product. For more information on these different concepts, see Age, Sex at Birth and Gender Reference Guide, Census of Population, 2021. Given that the non-binary population is small, data aggregation to a two-category gender variable is sometimes necessary to protect the confidentiality of responses. In these cases, individuals in the category "non-binary people" are distributed into the other two gender categories.
Data on "racialized groups" are measured using the "visible minority" variable. "Visible minority" refers to whether a person is a visible minority or not, as defined by the Employment Equity Act. The Employment Equity Act defines visible minorities as "persons, other than Aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour." The visible minority population consists mainly of the following groups: South Asian, Chinese, Black, Filipino, Latin American, Arab, Southeast Asian, West Asian, Korean and Japanese.
Data from the Labour Force Survey exclude the territories.