Issues Facing Refugee Women

Refugee Women
  • The 2006 Census enumerated 3,222,795 immigrant women in Canada, who made up 20.3% of the country’s female population. The proportion of immigrant women had not been at a similar level since 1931 when 20.2% of the female population was made up of immigrants
  • If Canada’s current immigration trend continues, by 2031, the country could have about 11.1 million immigrants. Slightly over one half of them (52.3%, or 5.8 million) would be women, who would then make up 27.4% of Canada’s total female population, according to Statistics Canada’s population projections.
  • In 2005, immigrant women of all ages were more likely to be living in a low-income situation than Canadian-born women. Among the immigrant girls and women in an economic family, 20% lived below Statistics Canada’s low-income cut-off before tax, compared with 10% of the Canadian-born girls and women (Table 8). The incidence of low income among immigrant girls and women was also slightly higher than among their male counterparts (19%).

 

  1. Statistics Canada, censuses of population, 1911 to 2006; and Projections of the Diversity of the Canadian Population, 2006 to 2031. Ottawa: Statistics Canada, 2010. Catalogue no. 91-551-X.

Topics