2019-20 Departmental Results Report: Gender-based analysis plus
Institutional GBA+ capacity
CIHR has a GBA+ Framework to coordinate related work and to operationalize commitments to the Health Portfolio and Department for Women and Gender Equality. The Framework seeks to build GBA+ organizational capacity and sustain the practice of GBA+ through three streams:
- GBA+ in CIHR-Funded Research: Aims to ensure that GBA+ is taken into account in research design, methods, analysis and interpretation and/or dissemination of findings.
- GBA+ in CIHR’s Funding System: Aims to ensure equitable access to CIHR funds across eligible individuals.
- GBA+ in CIHR’s Workplace: Aims to ensure CIHR conducts its business in an equitable manner.
- Operationalized through federal legislation (such as the Employment Equity Act, the Canadian Multiculturalism Act and the Official Languages Act) and policies (Harassment in the Workplace Policy).
The CIHR GBA+ Responsibility Centre leads, enhances, supports, and monitors implementation of CIHR’s GBA+ framework and the actual practice of GBA+. CIHR has a Co-Champion model for GBA+. The Vice President, Research Programs serves as one GBA+ Co-Champion and is responsible for implementation of GBA+ across CIHR with support from the GBA+ Focal Point and staff within the Science Policy branch. The Scientific Director, Institute of Gender and Health, serves as the other GBA+ Co-Champion and provides guidance on the implementation of Sex and Gender-Based Analysis (SGBA) in the context of health research. Strategic guidance on GBA+-related matters is provided by Science Council, while operational guidance and decision-making is provided by senior management. CIHR’s Governing Council, the committee responsible for developing and approving CIHR’s strategic directions, has EDI as a recurring agenda item and also applies an EDI lens to deliberations. All CIHR staff and members of CIHR’s Governing Council are required to complete the Department of Women and Gender Equality GBA+ Training Module, as well as training on Indigenous cultural awareness offered through the Canadian School of Public Service.
To monitor GBA+ in CIHR-funded research, CIHR tracks integration of sex and gender in all research proposals. CIHR monitors GBA+ in all of its funding programs through the Tri-Agency Self-Identification Questionnaire, which collects information on applicant age, gender, and whether someone identifies as Indigenous, a visible minority or a person with a disability. In program evaluations, CIHR administers surveys to applicants and recipients to monitor differential impacts of funding programs on four designated employment equity groups and gender. To monitor GBA+ in CIHR’s workplace, CIHR tracks GBA+ training completed by staff and Governing Council members, and participates in Health Portfolio-wide surveys to assess staff knowledge and application of GBA+.
CIHR is also working with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) to implement a Tri-Agency Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Action Plan, which includes activities that cut across the three areas of CIHR’s GBA+ Framework. Work is governed through an Interagency Committee on EDI and implemented by an Interagency EDI Policy Working Group. In July 2019, the agencies released a Tri-Agency Statement on EDI outlining the agencies commitment to supporting EDI across the Canadian research enterprise.
Highlights of GBA+ Results by Program
| Investigator-Initiated Research | SGBA in Research Action Plan The SGBA in Research Action Plan aims to systematically integrate sex and gender considerations into CIHR-funded research to ensure that research we fund is relevant and impactful for Canada’s diverse population. CIHR requires applicants to integrate sex and gender in all funding applications, across all program areas, where appropriate. In CIHR’s Project Grant Program, reviewers are required to provide an assessment of the integration of sex and/or gender into research proposals. In addition, CIHR and the Institute of Gender and Health (IGH) conducted in-person SGBA training for peer reviewers, tailored to the subject-matter areas of committees in the Project Grant competition. The performance indicator for this program is “% of research that addresses sex or gender considerations”. For the 2019-20 fiscal year, 69.1% of CIHR-funded Investigator-Initiated research addressed sex or gender considerations. Results are also reported in the Departmental Results Framework and will be available in the GC InfoBase. This initiative is relevant to the Gender Results Framework Pillar “Poverty reduction, health and well-being”. Sex and gender differences influence health risks, health services use, health system interaction and health outcomes. Monitoring Equity and Diversity in CIHR’s Funding System Beginning in May 2018, applicants to all CIHR programs must complete the Self-Identification Questionnaire. Developed in collaboration with its Tri-Agency partners NSERC and SSHRC, the questionnaire collects information on five equity dimensions (described above), which will be used to enable effective monitoring of equity in CIHR’s funding system and inform evidence-based policy solutions to increase EDI in the research enterprise. Using data collected from the questionnaire, CIHR will monitor and report on the performance indicator “# and diversity of researchers and trainees supported” across all of CIHR’s programs. Aggregate results are reported internally, in the Program Information Profiles and externally to the Canadian Research Coordinating Committee (CRCC). In addition, results from the 2018 and 2019 Spring and Fall Project Grant competitions will be posted on CIHR’s website in summer of 2020. The Tri-Agencies are working to revise the Self-Identification Questionnaire for the 2020-21 fiscal year in order to capture disaggregation of population groups; offer more inclusive options across the spectrums of gender identity and sexual orientation; align with the definition of disability with the Accessible Canada Act; and include a question on language. The questionnaire will also be extended to peer reviewers and members of CIHR’s governance committees. Tri-Agency Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Action Plan In fall of 2018, CIHR, along with NSERC and SSHRC, developed a Tri-agency EDI Action Plan in order to harmonize and enhance EDI initiatives across the three granting agencies. Many of the initiatives are relevant to enhancing EDI across all CIHR program areas. The objectives, and corresponding initiatives within the action plan, aim to increase EDI amongst recipients of CIHR funding, as well as teachers, researchers and students at post-secondary institutions, and are therefore relevant to two of the Gender Results Framework pillars: “Equal opportunities and diversified paths in education and skills development” and “Economic participation and prosperity”. In the 2019-20 Fiscal Year, CIHR and its Tri-Agency partners jointly launched EDI Institutional Capacity Building Grants and released a Tri-Agency statement on EDI, committing to facilitate an inclusive culture that is important for research excellence and rigour in the health research ecosystem. CIHR jointly launched Dimensions: Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Canada charter and pilot program that aims to foster transformational change within the research community at Canadian post-secondary intuitions by identifying and eliminating obstacles and inequities for underrepresented or disadvantaged groups. The agencies also released an official letter stating a shared commitment to ensuring EDI on panels and events organized by and/or participated in by the agencies. |
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| Research in Priority Areas | SGBA in Research Action Plan Please see description above in Investigator-Initiated Research. CIHR requires applicants to integrate sex and gender in all funding applications, across all program areas, where appropriate. The performance indicator for this program is “% of research that addresses sex or gender considerations”. For the 2019-20 fiscal year, 64.2% of CIHR-funded Research in Priority Areas addressed sex or gender considerations. Results are also reported in the Departmental Results Framework and will be available in the GC InfoBase. Institute of Gender and Health Strategic Plan IGH’s Strategic Plan 2018-2023 “Science is better with sex and gender” comprises 10 goals within three strategic directions:
To this end, in the 2019-20 fiscal year IGH launched several key initiatives within the Research in Priority Areas program, including Sex and Gender Science Chairs, SGBA+ Health Policy Research Partnerships (in collaboration with the Health Canada Gender and Health Unit), Standardization Platform on Age and Sex as Biological Variables, and the Women’s Health Clinical Mentorship Grant. These initiatives are relevant to the Gender Results Framework Pillar “Poverty reduction, health and well-being”. Sex and gender differences influence health risks, health services use, health system interaction and health outcomes. Monitoring Equity and Diversity in CIHR’s Funding System Please see description above in Investigator-Initiated research. CIHR will monitor and report on the performance indicator “# and diversity of researchers and trainees supported” across all of CIHR’s programs. Aggregate results are reported internally, in the Program Information Profiles and externally to the Canadian Research Coordinating Committee (CRCC). Tri-Agency Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan Please see description above in Investigator Initiated research. |
| Training and Career Support | SGBA in Research Action Plan Please see description above in Investigator-Initiated Research. CIHR requires applicants to integrate sex and gender in all funding applications, across all program areas, where appropriate. The performance indicator for this program is “% of research that addresses sex or gender considerations”. For the 2019-20 fiscal year, 67.9% of CIHR-funded research in Training and Career Support addressed sex or gender considerations. Results are also reported in the Departmental Results Framework and will be available in the GC InfoBase. Monitoring Equity and Diversity in CIHR’s Funding System Please see description above in Investigator-Initiated Research. CIHR will monitor and report on the performance indicator “# and diversity of researchers and trainees supported” across all of CIHR’s programs. Aggregate results are reported internally, in the Program Information Profiles and externally to the Canadian Research Coordinating Committee (CRCC). Tri-Agency Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan Please see description above in Investigator Initiated research. In keeping with the action plan, in April 2019, the Tri-Agencies increased the duration of paid parental leave from 6 to 12 months for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows supported directly through agency awards and who are paid through a supervisor’s agency grant. |
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