Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth

This article is about the federal cabinet minister. For the Ontario department, see Office of Women's Issues.

The minister for women and gender equality and youth (French: ministre des femmes et de l’égalité des genres et de la jeunesse) a minister of the Crown and member of the Canadian Cabinet. The position is responsible for the Department for Women and Gender Equality and the youth portfolio is associated with the Department of Canadian Heritage.

Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth
Ministre des Femmes et de l’Égalité des genres et de la Jeunesse
Incumbent Marci Ien since October 26, 2021
Department for Women and Gender Equality Department of Canadian Heritage
Style	The Honourable
Member of	Cabinet Privy Council
Reports to	Prime Minister of Canada
Appointer	Monarch (represented by the governor general) on the advice of the prime minister
Term length	At His Majesty's pleasure
Inaugural holder	Bob Andras
Formation	June 11, 1971 (as Minister of Status of Women)
Salary	$255,300 (2017)

History

The position previously existed as Minister of Status of Women, responsible for what was then known as Status of Women Canada. Traditionally, the office that held the Status of Women portfolio under their purview, that minister has been designated the additional honorary title of Minister responsible for the Status of Women.

The Status of Women portfolio was originally created in 1971 as a product of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women (created in 1967), who completed their report in 1970. The title of Minister for Women and Gender Equality was created in 2018, following the passage of the Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 2 and the creation of the Department fort Women and Gender Equality, separating Status of Women Canada from the Department of Canadian Heritage. Responsibility for youth issues was added to the portfolio in 2021, once again associating the office with the Department of Canadian Heritage.

List of ministers

Name	Term of office		Additional role	Political party
Minister of Status of Women
Bob Andras	11 June 1971	7 August 1974		Lib
Marc Lalonde	1976 April 1	1977 September 15	Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada	Lib
	1977 September 16	1978 November 23	Minister of State (Federal-Provincial Relations)	Lib
	1978 November 24	1979 June 3	Minister of National Health and Welfare and Minister responsible for Fitness and Amateur Sport	Lib
David Samuel Horne MacDonald	1979 June 3	1980 March 2	Secretary of State and Minister of Communications	PC
Lloyd Axworthy	1980 March 3	1981 September 21	Minister of Employment and Immigration	Lib
Judith Erola	1981 September 22	1983 August 11	Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs	Lib
	1983 August 12	1984 September 16	Minister of State (Mines)	Lib
Walter Franklin McLean	1984 September 17	1985 August 19	Secretary of State	PC
	1985 August 20	1986 June 29		PC
Barbara Jean McDougall	1986 June 30	1990 February 22		PC
Mary Collins	1990 February 23	1993 January 3	Associate Minister of National Defence	PC
	1993 January 4	1993 June 24	Minister of Western Economic Diversification and Minister of State (Environment)	PC
	1993 June 25	1993 November 3	Minister of National Health and Welfare	PC
Jean Augustine	2003 December 12	2004 July 19	Minister of State	Lib
Liza Frulla	2004 July 20	2006 February 5	Minister of Canadian Heritage	Lib
Bev Oda as Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women	2006 February 6	2007 August 13		Cons
Josée Verner as Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages	2007 August 14	2008 October 29		Cons
	2008 May 27	2008 October 29	Minister of State	Cons
Helena Guergis as Minister of State (Status of Women)	2008 October 30	2010 April 8		Cons
Rona Ambrose	2010 April 9	2013 July 14	Minister of Public Works and Government Services	Cons
Kellie Leitch	2013 July 15	2013 December 11	Minister of Labour	Cons
	2013 December 12	2015 November 3	Minister of Labour	Cons
Patty Hajdu	2015 November 4	2017 January 9		Lib
Maryam Monsef	2017 January 10	2018 December 12		Lib
Minister for Women and Gender Equality
Maryam Monsef	2018 December 13	2019 November 20	Minister of International Development	Lib
	2019 November 20	2021 October 26	Minister of Rural Economic Development	Lib
Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth
Marci Ien	2021 October 26	Incumbent		Lib

History

The "status of women" portfolio was originally created in 1971 as result of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women (created in 1967), who completed their report in 1970. This new position, originally titled the Office of the Co-ordinator, Status of Women, was initially meant to help implement the recommendations of the Royal Commission.

During the 1993–2003 ministry of Jean Chrétien, the position was titled Secretary of State (Status of Women), as it did not carry full cabinet rank. The first cabinet of Paul Martin also kept this title, as the office's responsibilities were delegated from the Minister of Canadian Heritage. However, in July 2004, the title reverted to Minister responsible for the Status of Women with the swearing-in of Liza Frulla, who doubled as Heritage Minister and was thus ultimately responsible for Status of Women Canada.

In 2016, the position was made a member of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada. In 2018, following the passage of the Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 2, Status of Women Canada became a federal department called the Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE). WAGE administers the Governor General's Awards in Commemoration of the Persons Case. One of the programs started by the Status of Women Canada was an education/analysis program called gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA+).

External links

• Status of Women Canada presently being renamed to Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE)
• CBC Digital Archives - Equality First: The Royal Commission on the Status of Women