Gender equity successes in B.C.

Last updated on September 22, 2026

Since adopting Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) in 2018, the B.C. Government has made significant strides in advancing gender equity across economic, social, and health sectors.

Economic Participation and Prosperity

B.C. has introduced inclusive economic and social policies and programs to close the gender pay gap and increase women’s workforce participation. Almost 195,000 women joined the workforce from 2017 to 2025 in B.C., supported by initiatives like the StrongerBC Future Ready Action Plan.

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Minimum wage increases

  • B.C. introduced regular, gradual increases to the minimum wage.
  • The minimum wage reached $18.25/hour as of June 1, 2026.
  • B.C. ended the discriminatory liquor server minimum wage, which impacted mostly women as about 80% of liquor servers are women.
 

Early Childhood Educator (ECE) wage enhancement

  • B.C. steadily increased the median wage for ECEs through the ECE Wage Enhancement.
  • Median wage for ECEs receiving the enhancement was $30/hour as of January 2026.
 

Child care expansion

  • Since the launch of ChildCareBC in 2018, more than 43,000 new licensed child care spaces have been funded, with more than 31,300 of these spaces open now and serving families.
  • In August 2026, B.C. announced that approximately 1,200 new before — and after — school child care spaces on school grounds are expected to open in the next year.
 

Pay equity

  • B.C.’s Pay Transparency Act became law in May 2023 to reduce the gender pay gap.
  • The gender pay gap in B.C. decreased from 18.4% in 2022 to 14.5% in 2025.
  • Over 80% of job postings in B.C. included pay information in mid-2026, compared to less than 40% in 2022 before the Pay Transparency Act was in place.
 

Workplace safety and inclusion

  • Flushable toilets and handwashing facilities are now required on large construction sites.
  • New guideline from WorkSafeBC aims to ensure personal protective equipment fits properly for workers of all genders.
 

Economic participation

  • Almost 195,000 women joined the B.C. workforce from 2017 to 2025.
  • Notable sectors for increases in women’s employment: 
    • Professional, scientific, and technical services up 39% from 97,100 to 134,900
    • Public administration up 36% from 56,800 to 77,400
    • Educational services up 32% from 114,800 to 151,700
    • Construction up 32% from 27,200 to 35,900
    • Real estate and rental and leasing up 27% from 26,000 to 32,900
    • Health care and social assistance up 26% from 252,000 to 317,400.
 

Support for working mothers

  • In 2025, 34,300 more women with children under 12 were employed in B.C. than in 2018.
  • From 2018 to 2025, the full-time employment rate rose from 69% to 76% for women with children under 12.
 

StrongerBC: Future Ready Action Plan

  • The StrongerBC Future Ready Action Plan launched in 2023, aligning B.C.’s labour strategy with its ambitions for a clean and inclusive economy.
  • The plan used a gender-based analysis plus lens, to ensure its 21 initiatives support women and gender diverse people.

 

Training and Education

The Province has expanded access to education and training for women and underrepresented groups in programs focused on trades, technology, and more. These investments are helping more people gain skills and credentials needed to enter stable, in-demand careers.

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Indigenous Skills Training and Education (ISTE) in B.C.

  • More than 1,900 Indigenous women participated in ISTE funded projects leading to employment and/or further education, from 2023 to 2025.
 

Canadian Tech Talent Accelerator (CTTA)

  • B.C. has invested in the CTTA program that helps unemployed young people and people from under-represented communities looking to start a career in the tech industry. Nearly 50% of 829 participants from early 2024 to early 2025 were women.
 

Trades

  • At the end of 2025/26, there were over 4,500 women apprentices across all trades, making up close to 10% of apprentices in B.C.
  • A province-wide Show Up for Safer Workplaces project by the BC Centre for Women in the Trades launched in Fall 2025.
  • B.C. is making a historic investment into the trades training, doubling annual funding for SkilledTradesBC from $107 million to $214 million annually by 2028/29.
  • In 2025/26, SkilledTradesBC delivered four Equity in Trades programs to more than 200 women, helping them gain the skills and knowledge needed to enter skilled trades apprenticeships.
 

Community Workforce Response Grant

  • The Community Workforce Response Grant helps organizations and communities provide training for unemployed or precariously employed people. The grant covers 100% of training costs and may include additional supports.
  • In 2025/26, the program supported more than 600 participants, with women accounting for over 60% of participants.
 

Transportation sector initiatives

  • Support for the YWCA to provide women with skills training for careers in the trucking industry.
  • Support for the BC Road Builders to hire, train, and retain underrepresented groups, including women, in highway maintenance and road building.
 

Employment supports for survivors of gender-based violence

  • A grant to the YWCA to provide employment supports to immigrant women and non-binary survivors of violence using a trauma-informed approach.
 

Technical skills training

  • Support for the Alberni Maker Space Society for training for underrepresented groups in 3D printing, computer numerical control cutting and more.

 

Health, Well-being, and Poverty Reduction

B.C. has improved access to reproductive and women’s health services, gender-affirming health care, and initiatives that address health equity.

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IVF coverage

  • As of July 2, 2025, B.C. funds one standard in-vitro fertilization (IVF) cycle including treatment and medications.
 

Health in menopause

  • In 2025, BC Women’s Hospital + Health Centre launched the Complex Menopause Clinic.
  • On March 1, 2026, B.C. launched free hormone replacement therapy (HRT).
 

HPV and contraception access

  • In 2024, B.C. launched a self-screening program for HPV.
  • On April 1, 2023, B.C. became the first province to make prescription contraception free.
 

Expanded midwives’ role

  • The Province is strengthening access to reproductive care by expanding the role of midwives. People in B.C. will have better access to midwife-led abortion care, continuous pregnancy care and other reproductive health services.
 

Menstrual equity

  • Since 2019, free menstrual products have been available in public school washrooms.
  • In 2022, the Province provided funding to United Way BC to establish the Period Poverty Task Force and lead efforts to distribute free menstrual products across B.C.
 

Gender-affirming care

  • Through Trans Care BC, the Province has increased alignment with World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) Standards to enhance gender-affirming care.
 

Inclusive data and ID policies

  • A Gender and Sex Data Standard has been created to improve how government collects and uses data to serve B.C.'s diverse population.
  • Gender designation changes on ID no longer require physician or psychologist confirmation.
  • In 2022, the Province passed the Anti-Racism Data Act  to help dismantle systemic racism and discrimination faced by Indigenous people, black people and people of colour.
  • B.C. introduced the Provincial Data Plan to improve how government collects and uses data to better understand community needs and improve programs and services.
  • The Indigenous Identity Data Standard provides a consistent, distinctions-based way to collect, use and share Indigenous identity data. It reflects the unique rights, experiences and data needs of Indigenous peoples.
  • The Racial Identity Data Standard supports a consistent and culturally safe approach to collecting racial identity data.
 

Legislative updates

  • Government updated approximately 4,000 outdated gendered and binary terms in B.C. statutes and regulations.

 

Addressing Gender-Based Violence (GBV)

In December 2023, B.C. launched a comprehensive action plan, Safe and Supported: B.C.’s Gender-Based Violence Action Plan, which includes numerous Indigenous and community-led initiatives, expands housing and legal supports for survivors, and strengthens protections against image-based abuse.  Learn more about B.C.’s GBV Action Plan.

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Supports for survivors

  • Providing annual funding for more than 475 victim services and violence against women programs, including 70 sexual assault services programs, 22 of these specifically for Indigenous survivors, and five sexual assault centres.
  • Two new 24/7 gender-based violence crisis lines.
  • New provincial policing standards for police responses to — and investigations of — sexual assault emphasize victim-centred, trauma-informed, culturally safe and inclusive approaches.
 

Housing for survivors

  • Doubling the number of women’s transition housing spaces to 3,000. As of March 31, 2026, there are 1,508 units for women and children fleeing violence delivered or underway; 1,460 of those are funded by the Women’s Transition Housing Fund.
 

Sexual Assault Forensic Examination Policy and Guideline

  • In late 2023, the Ministry of Health approved the Sexual Assault Forensic Examination Policy and Guideline, which sets expectations for access to adult and adolescent sexual assault forensic examination in emergency departments, including acceptable models of care.
 

Intimate Images Protection Act

  • Making online spaces safer through the Intimate Images Protection Act and support services addressing sharing of intimate images without consent.
  • Amendments that came into effect in 2026 strengthened protections for victims, including increasing the maximum compensation available through a Civil Resolution Tribunal order from $5,000 to $75,000.
  • As of May 31, 2026, the Civil Resolution Tribunal has received 627 disputes and resolved almost 500 of them, with the remainder still in progress.
  • The Intimate Images Protection Service provides emotional support, resources, and information to victims.
 

Systemic review

  • In 2024, Government appointed Dr. Kim Stanton to conduct a systemic review of the legal system’s treatment of intimate partner violence and sexual violence. In late 2025, Government provided an update which includes the planned path for implementing the review’s findings.
 

Legal aid and family law

  • The Province is providing support to expand financial eligibility for family legal aid services, improve intake capacity and create a new trauma-informed family law clinic.
  • The Province will propose changes to the Family Law Act to provide increased support for families and people experiencing family violence, including parenting arrangements that prioritize children’s needs.
 

Supporting Indigenous-led violence prevention programs

  • Through the Path Forward Community Fund, provincial and federal investments are supporting more than 100 Indigenous-led projects across the province that focus on community safety planning, capacity building, and Indigenous-led solutions to violence against women, girls and 2SLGBTQIA+ people.
 

Gender and cultural safety plans for large industrial projects

  • The Environmental Assessment Office has created clear, standardized requirements that can be included in environmental assessment approvals for large industrial projects with temporary work camps. These requirements are intended to help prevent and reduce the risk of gender-based violence by requiring companies to develop gender and cultural safety plans and violence prevention programs for workers. The Woodfibre LNG project, currently under construction near Squamish, is the first project to use this approach, and similar requirements are now being introduced for other projects.
 

Prevention in schools

  • As part of Safe and Supported: B.C.’s Gender-Based Violence Action Plan, Government is updating consent-based prevention and awareness programs for children, youth and young adults.

 

Leadership and Democratic Participation

Women now exceed parity in the B.C. Cabinet, and as of March 2024, exceed parity in public sector board appointments in B.C. These gains reflect increased representation of women in leadership and decision-making roles across government.

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Cabinet and public sector boards

  • As of March 2024, about 55% of B.C. public sector board appointees were women, up from almost 42% in 2017.