Approaches to Gender Equality in the Workplace

In this historical article, the author points out that after decades of human rights cases and challenges to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, women are still struggling to achieve the important goals of equality and freedom from discrimination, in the workplace. It is argued that it is essential to move beyond mainstream doctrines such as the formal equality approach, which makes it very unlikely that human rights cases will actually recognize most forms of gender discrimination. As such, the court continued to grapple with the constraints of the formal equality analysis. There are lessons here that can still be applied today.

Credit: Ottawa Law Review

Date: 1998