August 1998 Status of Women Canada is committed to ensuring that all research produced through the Policy Research Fund adheres to high methodological, ethical, and professional standards. 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 and 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 report. This paper emanated from a call for proposals in April 1997 to study the gender dimensions of the relationship between the changing role of the state and the changing nature of women's paid and unpaid work and their vulnerability to poverty. Researchers were asked to identify policy gaps and new policy questions or trends, to propose frameworks for the evaluation, analysis and critique of existing policies, and to develop pragmatic alternatives to existing policies or new policy options. Seven research projects were funded by Status of Women Canada on this issue. A complete list of the research projects is included at the end of this report.