My question is for the Associate Minister of Women’s Social and Economic Opportunity. Our government needs to build a province where every woman and girl is empowered to succeed. This starts with getting more women into jobs than ever before. According to recent employment data regarding women’s labour force participation, the overall employment rate in April significantly increased as compared to pre-pandemic levels. There has been an increase of 415,000 jobs, a large portion of which have been filled by women.

This number demonstrates that the investments and supports put in place by our government are increasing women’s economic security. However, there is still more that needs to be done in advancing equality and economic independence for women.

Speaker, can the associate minister please explain what actions our government is taking to support even greater participation by women in Ontario’s workforce?