Who is more democratic in Canada: women or men?

One of the most influential sources in statistics, polls and research has published data on Canadians' attitudes toward the values of democracy, equality and inclusion. The results show unequivocally that women are more likely to hold democratic values than men.

In 1982, under the administration of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was adopted. This fundamental document governmental structure, both at the federal and all other levels.

The Charter also incorporates those values that are intrinsic to the Canadian nation. Among the basic and most relevant are: respect for the law, ethnic and cultural diversity and respect for Indigenous cultures, gender equality, and language dualism.

Although all Canadians are expected to share these ideals equally, women are far better at it and share these values more strongly than men.

Overall, 86% of Canadians value human rights, 81% value gender equality, and 80% respect the law. That's a very high number.

When it comes to gender, the statistics changes: women agree more than men on values such as gender equality and respect for indigenous cultures. 71% of women value ethnocultural diversity, which only 62% of men do.

However, there are legitimate differences among women as well: 90% of Indigenous women respect Indigenous cultures compared to 73% of non-Indigenous women.

For men, 78% of the indigenous men strongly agreed with this position; among non-indigenous men, only 63% agreed.

As for attitudes toward French and English, there were no gender differences – 55% of respondents shared the importance of these two languages.