The research must also make a unique, value-added contribution to current policy debates, and be useful to policy makers, researchers, women's organizations, communities and others interested in the policy process. Status of Women Canada thanks those who contributed to this peer review process. In recognition of this, Status of Women Canada instituted the Policy Research Fund in 1996. It supports independent policy research on issues linked to the public policy agenda and in need of gender-based analysis. Our objective is to enhance public debate on gender equality issues in order to enable individuals, organizations, policy makers and policy analysts to participate more effectively in the development of policy.
Funding is awarded through an open, competitive call for proposals.
A non-governmental, external committee plays a key role in identifying policy research priorities, selecting research proposals for funding and evaluating the final reports. This policy research paper was proposed and developed under a call for proposals in April 1997 on the integration of diversity into policy research, development and analysis . While it is recognized that women as a group share some common issues and policy concerns, women living in Canada are not a homogeneous group. Aboriginal women, women with disabilities, visible minority women and women of colour, linguistic minority women, immigrant women, lesbians, young women, poor women, older women and other groups of women experience specific barriers to equality. Through this call for proposals, researchers were asked to consider these differences in experiences and situations when identifying policy gaps, new questions, trends and emerging issues, as well as alternatives to existing policies or new policy options.