February 11, 2021 – Ottawa, Ontario – Women and Gender Equality Canada
The COVID-19 pandemic has magnified systemic and longstanding inequalities, with women and girls disproportionately affected by the crisis. The Canadian Government is taking strong action to prevent the pandemic from rolling back progress or reversing the hard-won gains of women in Canada.
Through the Women and Gender Equality Canada’s Women’s Program, the Honourable Maryam Monsef, Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Rural Economic Development, launched a new call for proposals entitled “Feminist Response and Recovery Fund”, that will provide $100 million for projects helping those in greatest need.
The funding will allow recipient organizations to launch new projects or scale up past projects that increase women and girls' participation in Canada’s economic, social, democratic and political life.
Eligible projects will tackle barriers, address harmful gender norms and attitudes, or improve policies, practices, resource distribution, networks and relationships. Recognizing the need for a feminist, intersectional response to COVID-19, Women and Gender Equality Canada will direct funding to projects supporting marginalized or underrepresented people, including Indigenous women, Black women, women of colour, women who are members of LGBTQ2 communities, and women living with disabilities or in rural or remote communities.
The call for proposals aims to provide flexibility, allowing organizations to respond to a wide range of issues in order to accelerate progress on gender equality and ensure that Canada’s response to and recovery from COVID-19 is inclusive of diverse women. These projects will serve as building blocks for long-term, lasting change to advance women’s equality.
The women’s program provides funding to eligible organizations in three priority areas:
The call for proposals is open until March 25, 2021 at 12:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time (PST). For more information and for details on how to apply, visit women.gc.ca.