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Breaking Barriers: The Urgent Need to Accelerate Gender Equality for Young Women and Girls Report

  • Writer: Jaime Gutierrez
    Jaime Gutierrez
  • Jul 14
  • 2 min read
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The Mary Ward Centre invites you to read our new report entitled "Breaking Barriers: The Urgent Need to Accelerate Gender Equality for Young Women and Girls". 

Learn about the challenges and opportunities experienced by young women and girls (aged 15 to 24) in Canada in relation to gender equality and access to decent work. 

This report responds to the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and looks at progress made in Canada on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on gender equality (SDG 5), decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), and others.


Some of the Key Learnings:

1. Young women and girls consistently report experiences of workplace sexual harassment and discrimination based on gender, race, religion, disability, and other identity markers.

2. Women continue to be underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields and experiences in post-secondary settings are critical to influencing careers in these areas.

3. Girls and young women tend to be overrepresented in ‘caring’ professions and perform disproportionately more unpaid care work than boys and young men, which impacts their career possibilities. Girls and young women also report societal and familial pressure to pursue marriage and children as a primary concern and career as a secondary pursuit.

4. Young women and girls experience barriers in academic and sport settings. Without role models and opportunities for mentoring, girls and young women fail to develop the confidence and practical skills needed for career development, whether in STEM, sports, or other fields.


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Recommendations from Young Women and Girls:

1. Enable and create opportunities for mentoring and networking among girls and women for career development that is responsive to diversity.

2. Increase scholarship opportunities to support the educational attainment of girls and young women.

3. Provide comprehensive education on gender equality across educational levels

4. Expand Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) frameworks and policies.


Read more about the experiences and recommendations here. 


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