Research shows Canadian women hold less wealth than men in every province
The size of the gap varies by province but has generally narrowed over time, the authors wrote, with the clearest improvement in pension-related assets.
Outside Quebec, where fewer institutional and policy mechanisms deal explicitly with wealth sharing, the disparities stay less visible in both data and public discussion, as per the paper.
Co-author Mamadou Diallo, a PhD candidate in population studies at INRS, tied that progress to method.
“By combining machine learning methods with existing data, we can estimate individual wealth more accurately,” Diallo said, adding that the approach opens the way to a clearer read on economic inequality between women and men.
The study gives particular attention to Quebec, where family policies introduced in the late 1990s encouraged women to join the labour market and a distinct legal framework governs how property is shared.
