Counting Matters: Policy, Practice, and the Limits of Gender Equality Measurement in Canada [Paperback]

Examines how 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.

Counting Mattersquestions the ways in which measurement culture manifests within the field of gender equality. The contributors ask 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.Christina Gabrielis professor of political science at Carleton University. She is the coauthor ofContaining Diversity: Canada and the Politics of Immigration in the 21st Century and Selling Diversity: Immigration, Multiculturalism, Employment Equity and Globalization. She also coeditedGoverning International Labour Migration: Current Issues, Challenges and Dilemmas. L. Pauline Rankinis professor in the School of Indigenous and Canadian Studies, and provost and vice president (academic) at Carleton University. She coeditedWe Still Demand! Redefining Resistance in Sex and Gender Strugglesand is coauthor ofPolitics as If Women Mattered: A Political Analysis of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women.