Employment insurance (EI) remains inaccessible to many women after job separation because of barriers in the Employment Insurance Act (EIA) that make it more difficult for people who take on family care responsibilities – who are overwhelmingly women – to qualify for benefits.
This one-page advocacy brief outlines reforms that need to be made to the EIA in order to address this gender-based discrimination and ensure women’s rightful access to EI.
This advocacy brief was created as part of LEAF’s Valuing the Care Economy Project. LEAF acknowledges the support of Women and Gender Equality Canada.
Note: There are very few statistics that distinguish adequately between genders. While this brief outlines EI reform necessary to advancing gender equality for all, it mostly relies on data that has only accounted for cisgender women’s experiences. Where this is the case, we use the language “women” to signal that the information refers only to women, though even using this language is incorrect, because the data likely does not include trans women.
Citations:
[1] Statistics Canada, “Proportion of workers in full-time and part-time jobs by gender, annual” (9 January 2026), online: Statistics Canada: <https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1410032703>.
[2] Jessica Gill, “Employees with low pay, 2024” (18 August 2025), online: Statistics Canada <https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/14-28-0001/2025001/article/00002-eng.htm>; 6 Avery Beall, France-Pascale Ménard, Jean-François Roy, and Karen Rauh, “Socioeconomic outcomes of transgender and non-binary people in Canada” (released on 16 October 2025), online: Statistics Canada <https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/91f0015m/91f0015m2025001-eng.htm>
[3] See House of Commons, “Modernizing the Employment Insurance Program: Report of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities” (June 2021) (Chair: Sean Casey) at 51.
[4] Statistics Canada, “Part-time employment by reason, annual (x 1,000)” (9 January 2026), online: Statistics Canada: <https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1410002901&pickMembers%5B0%5D=1.1&pickMembers%5B1%5D=3.3&pickMembers%5B2%5D=4.1&cubeTimeFrame.startYear=2021&cubeTimeFrame.endYear=2025&referencePeriods=20210101%2C20250101>.
[5] Jeannine N. Bailliu & Danny Leung, “Economic and Social Reports: Measuring the value of women’s contribution to the Canadian economy: New insights based on recent work” (22 February 2023), online: Statistics Canada <https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/36-28-0001/2023002/article/00001-eng.htm>.
[6] Sandy Besporstov & Amanda Sinclair, “Estimating the economic value of unpaid household work in Canada, 2015 to 2019” (17 March 2022), online: Statistics Canada <https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/13-605-x/2022001/article/00001-eng.htm>.
[7] Melissa Moyser & Amanda Burlock, “Time use: Total work burden, unpaid work, and leisure” (30 July 2018), online: Statistics Canada <https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-503-x/2015001/article/54931-eng.htm>.
[8] Statistics Canada, “Proportion of workers in full-time and part-time jobs by gender, annual” (9 January 2026), online: Statistics Canada: <https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1410032703>.
[9] Jessica Gill, “Employees with low pay, 2024” (18 August 2025), online: Statistics Canada <https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/14-28-0001/2025001/article/00002-eng.htm>.
[10] Katherine Scott, “Work in progress: Women in Canada’s changing post-pandemic labour market” (May 2024) at 11, online (pdf):Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives <https://policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/National%20Office/2024/05/Work%20in%20Progress.pdf> [perma.cc/8QCA-LW2K].
[11] Statistics Canada, “Employment Insurance Coverage Survey, 2024” (29 October 2025), online: Statistics Canada <https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/251029/dq251029a-eng.htm>.