Status of Women Canada
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Status of Women Canada

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Women in Canada at a Glance Statistical Highlights

Immigrant Women

  • Canada's female population is increasingly diverse. In 2006, there were 3.2 million immigrant women, a fifth (20.3%) of the entire female population.
  • In 2009, 29% of immigrant women admitted as permanent residents were in the family class category, representing 59% of the category's total. Another 39% of women were admitted as spouses or dependants in the economic class, accounting for 56% of those in that category. A further 19% were admitted as principal applicants in the economic class.
  • In 2009, almost half (49% or 11,300 individuals) of all refugee class immigrants were women. Refugees represented 9% of all landed immigrants admitted to Canada in 2009.
  • In 2006, 90% of immigrant women lived in the country's 33 largest urban centres, compared to only 68% of the total female population.
  • Overall, immigrant women are more likely to be university graduates than women born in this country. Approximately 23% have a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 16% of Canadian-born women. However, immigrant women are less likely to have a degree than immigrant men. For example, 57% of recent immigrant men between the ages of 25 and 54 had a university degree compared to 49% of recent immigrant women in the same age group.
  • From 2001 to 2006, Canada's total female workforce increased by 9.5%. During this five-year period, the female labour force increased 16.8% among the immigrant population and 7.4% among the Canadian-born.
  • Whether immigrant or Canadian-born, women continue to work in traditional female sectors, most commonly in sales and services as well as in business, finance and administrative fields. In 2006, among the immigrant female labour force, 29% worked in sales and services and 25% were employed in business, finance and administrative occupations.
  • Finding suitable employment can be a challenge for many newcomers, especially those seeking work that reflects their training. The proportion of recent immigrant women with a university degree working in sales and services (23%) was three times greater than for their Canadian-born counterparts (7.4%).
  • Newly arrived immigrant women – those who had arrived up to five years prior to the 2006 Census – were more likely to be unemployed than those who had spent more time in Canada. However, amongst immigrant women aged 25 to 54, the challenge of finding work eased the longer they lived in this country.

Female permanent residents, by major admission category, Canada, 1980 to 2009

Sources: Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Facts and Figures

Text Equivalent of Chart 5

Immigrant and recent immigrant women as a percentage of total female population, by census metropolitan area, Canada, 2006

Sources: Statistics Canada, Census of Population, 2006

Text Equivalent of Chart 6

For additional information, consult the "Immigrant Women" chapter in Women in Canada: A Gender-based Statistical Report, 6th edition, or go to http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/89-503-x/2010001/article/11528-eng.htm.

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Date Modified:
2013-01-11