Respect for the rule of law, gender equality and diversity are some of the Canadian values identified in Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. But do all Canadians share these things to the same extent?
New data from Statistics Canada’s General Social Survey examined values across different Canadian demographics and found that Canadian women are are more likely to adhere closely to most social and democratic values than Canadian men.
Statistics Canada used 2020 data from Survey of social identity and examine how much each gender values human rights, respect for the law, gender equality, bilingualism (English and French are the official languages of the countries), ethnic diversity and culture as well as respect for indigenous cultures.
RESULT
Overall, 86% of Canadians value human rights, 81% value gender equality and 80% respect the law.
When it comes to gender, research shows that more women agree with values such as gender equality, ethnic and cultural diversity, and respect for indigenous cultures than men.
In fact, 71% of women appreciate cultural diversity, compared to 62% of men.
Data shows that 68% of Canadians value respect for indigenous cultures, however, many women value this more than men.
According to Statistics Canada, respecting cultures is defined as respecting the unique histories, languages, cultural practices and spiritual beliefs of diverse Indigenous groups.
Based on the data collected, this is highly appreciated in the indigenous population. Statistically speaking, 90% of Indigenous women appreciate respect for Indigenous cultures, compared to 73% of non-Indigenous women. Meanwhile, 78% of Indigenous men strongly agree with this value, compared with 63% of non-Indigenous men.
When it comes to language duality, there is no gender difference for Canadian values placed above English and French as official national languages—55% of the population surveyed share this value.
DIFFERENT GENERATIONS, DIFFERENT VALUE?
Looking at the intersection of gender and age, it was found that 82% of women aged 15 to 34 are very interested in respecting indigenous cultures, compared to 67% of men in the same age group.
Other findings from government data collected between 2016 and 2019 also show that overall, Young Canadians are very interested in diversitywish to have more diverse representation on staff in justice system agencies and to invest more in culturally appropriate resources in these communities.
Comparing women’s age groups, it was found that women aged 65 and over were less likely to agree with valuing ethnic cultural diversity than younger women—60% vs. 2020.
However, 91% of women in the older population value respect for the law more than 69% of younger women. Patterns across age groups are similar for men.
