Isabella Bakker

The gap between Canadian men and women in terms of income and status will be the focus of an upcoming lecture at Brock.

Isabella Bakker will give an upcoming Trudeau lecture titled “The Unfinished Business of Women’s Economic Empowerment: A Call for a New Economic Equity Commission.” The York University political science professor will argue that gender equality is no longer considered when making public policy. As a consequence, the systematic gender gap is widening.

The Brock lecture is part of Bakker’s three-year term as a Laureate Trudeau Fellow.

“Trudeau Fellows are among Canada’s most outstanding scholars and the Trudeau Foundation is a prestigious organization supported by important and influential Canadians,” said Thomas Dunk, Dean of Social Sciences.

“That it has chosen Brock to host one of its lectures is another strong indication of Brock’s growing national and international reputation for scholarship and community engagement and, given the subject of Dr. Bakker’s talk, the high regard for Brock’s commitment to social justice and equity issues.”

Since the mid 1990s, Bakker said, Canada’s position has fallen substantially on global indicators such as the United Nation’s Human Development Index and its Gender-Related Development Index.

Within Canada, the current popular thought is that the individual is responsible for his or her success, and innate barriers for women no longer exist, she said.

“There’s been a whole shift in government approach, and it’s not unique to Canada,” she said. “It’s spreading throughout the western world.”

With a background in social research and the women’s movement, Bakker is a leading authority in the fields of political economy, public finance, gender and development. She has held consultancies with the Canadian and Ontario governments, the Commonwealth Secretariat and the United Nations, as well as numerous women’s advocacy groups.

The lecture will be on Thursday, Sept. 29 at 7 p.m. at Pond Inlet. Admission is free and a reception will follow.