Author Meets Readers | Counting Matters: Policy, Politics and the Limits of Gender Equality in Canada

Author Meets Readers invites Carleton students and the community to join an informal discussion on new books published by members of the Carleton University Faculty of Public and Global Affairs.

About the Book

Counting Matters examines the ways in which the rise of gender equality measurement contributes to, but falls short of, effective gender equality policy implementation.

As technocrats adopt often contextless indices, questions of the theoretical and practical limitations of measurement arise, especially as they pertain to social and cultural relations.

The indicators being produced influence the allocation of resources as political decisions but are themselves part of a power regime based on the collection and analysis of data, a regime that obfuscates biases and the agendas behind the statistics.

The book’s contributors pose critical questions of the ways in which measurement culture manifests within the field of gender equality, asking how it is measured in different policy areas, how we might improve existing practices, and what is revealed through the examination and critique of the “technical turn” in policies that purport to promote gender equality.

Authors/Co-editors

Christina Gabriel

Christina Gabriel is Professor in the Department of Political Science and the Institute of Political Economy. Her specific research interests focus on citizenship and migration, gender and politics, regional integration and globalization. She is the co-author (with Yasmeen Abu-Laban and Ethel Tungohan) of Containing Diversity: Canada and the Politics of Immigration in the 21st Century (2023), Selling Diversity: Immigration, Multiculturalism, Employment Equity and Globalization (2002) (with Yasmeen Abu-Laban). She is also co-editor (with L. Pauline Rankin) of Counting Matters. Policy, Practice and the Limits of Gender Equality Measurement in Canada (2024) and (with Hélène Pellerin) a co-editor of Governing International Labour Migration: Current Issues, Challenges and Dilemmas (2008). She has contributed chapters and articles on issues such as migration, border control, transnational care labour and North American regional integration.

Pauline Rankin

Dr. L. Pauline Rankin assumed the role of Carleton University’s Provost and Vice-President (Academic) in August 2023. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Toronto in English Literature and holds an MA in Canadian Studies and PhD in Political Science from Carleton. Dr. Rankin is Professor in the School of Canadian Studies. Her research spans various aspects of gender and politics, with specific interest in domestic and global applications of gender mainstreaming and gender activism. Most recently, she was a co-editor of We Still Demand: Redefining Resistance in Sex and Gender Struggles (UBC Press, 2016) and is co-editor of the forthcoming collection Counting Matters: Policy, Practice, and the Limits of Gender Equality Measurement in Canada (UBC, 2024). She has extensive experience working on global gender and development projects, offering strategic advice and capacity-building training to governments and NGOs in Russia, Ukraine, China, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Tunisia, Jordan, South Africa, Turkey, and throughout the South Caucasus. Dr. Rankin is also the recipient of multiple teaching accolades, including a Carleton University Teaching Achievement Award.

Panelists

Doris Buss

Doris Buss is a professor of Law and Legal Studies at Carleton University, with over twenty-five years of experience researching in the areas of international law and human rights, women’s rights, sexual and gender based violence, feminist theory, and transitional justice.  Her current research examines the global law and politics of mining and mineral supply chains with a specific focus on gender and livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa. 

Katherine Scott

Katherine Scott  is a Senior Researcher with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and serves as the director for its gender equality and public policy work. She has worked in the community sector as a researcher, writer and advocate over the past 30 years, writing on a range of social and economic policy issues from poverty and inequality to income security reform to funding for nonprofits. Her most recent project examines the labour market experiences of marginalized female workers in the post-pandemic economy. She served as Vice President of Research at the Canadian Council on Social Development (CCSD) for several years and has produced research and analysis for organizations such as Prosper Canada, Volunteer Canada, Capacity Canada, Pathways to Education Canada, and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. She holds degrees in political science from Queen’s University and York University.

Register

This event is part of the Ottawa International Writer’s Festival.