Toronto – The Institute for Gender and the Economy (GATE) at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management has received funding from Women and Gender Equality Canada for a two-year project, which will provide a roadmap for how Canada can lift the economy from the bottom up.
The R3Work project will lead to structural changes to ensure a feminist response to the COVID-19 pandemic and builds on GATE’s previous work. The funding was awarded by the Government of Canada’s Department for Women and Gender Equality’s Feminist Response and Recovery Fund.
“This work will provide leaders with research-proven interventions to remove barriers that restrict women, people of diverse genders and other marginalized groups from fully participating in the economy,” says Sarah Kaplan, Director of GATE and a Distinguished Professor of Gender & the Economy at the Rotman School. “Many of these barriers have long existed but were accentuated by the pandemic.”
The objectives of this R3Work project will scale GATE’s previously piloted work on gender inequality (the three R’s) to:
1. REFRAME inequities as opportunities for innovation. The challenges of COVID-19 offer opportunities to innovate to create an economy that benefits all. This will scale GATE’s Gender Analytics online five course specialization to train people across sectors to utilize intersectional gender-based analysis (GBA+) to locate new points of intervention to advance equity in our society and will conclude with a major conference for practitioners to share best practice.
2. RE-IMAGINE a future where care work is valued. COVID-19 has highlighted how fragile the childcare and elder care sectors are and the urgent need to value care work as essential work. Building on the Feminist Economic Recovery Plan issued last year in partnership with YWCA Canada, this will convene leading researchers to provide insights from cutting-edge research on the future of the care economy with the goal of providing policy makers with actionable insights relevant for all Canadians.
3. REDESIGN work through interventions that create systemic change. This will leverage partnerships with government agencies, community-based organizations, other research centres and corporations to test structural and behavioural interventions in areas such as financial inclusion, recruiting and promotion, sexual harassment, and equal pay.
The insights resulting from R3Work will provide workers, policymakers, and leaders with tools to create systemic change.
The Institute for Gender and the Economy (GATE) at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management promotes an understanding of gender inequalities and how they can be remedied—by people of all genders—in the world of business and, more broadly, in the economy. At GATE, we are changing the conversation on gender equality by: using rigorous research to investigate the hidden mechanisms that propagate gender equality; funding, translating, and disseminating innovative, academic research; and engaging executives, policy makers, and students to create new solutions for achieving equality, advancing careers, and creating economic prosperity. Visit Rotman's Institute for Gender and the Economy website for more information.
The Rotman School of Management is part of the University of Toronto, a global centre of research and teaching excellence at the heart of Canada’s commercial capital. Rotman is a catalyst for transformative learning, insights and public engagement, bringing together diverse views and initiatives around a defining purpose: to create value for business and society. For more information, visit www.rotman.utoronto.ca
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For more information:
Ken McGuffin
Manager, Media Relations
Rotman School of Management
University of Toronto
Voice: 416.946.3818
E-mail: mcguffin@rotman.utoronto.ca