Gender and policy development in mid-sized Canadian cities: A case study of local economic development in Waterloo Region

Gender mainstreaming at the local scale in Canada has been concentrated in the largest urban centres, where it has sometimes evolved into an equity lens that subsumes gender under a broader concern for diversity. This thesis examines the consideration of women-based concerns and gender issues in a mid-sized urban region, where gender mainstreaming was previously unheard of. The purpose is to ask why more cities are not conducting gender mainstreaming, particularly in economic development which has a significant impact on women's opportunities for empowerment, and to analyze the factors that lead to gender mainstreaming policy adoptions and sound implementation. A comparative case study of three culturally distinct municipalities in Waterloo Region, Ontario is used to examine the treatment of women and gender concerns in a two-tiered government system as it shifts from a traditional manufacturing economy to a knowledge and service-based economy.The findings are that a new dominant entrepreneurial cities policy frame, led by private sector elites is being institutionalized through multi-scalar, public-private partnerships, replacing the municipal-based traditional economic development policy frame. Contrary to the neoliberal underpinnings of the entrepreneurial cities policy frame and public-private partnerships associated with them, the new policy frame opens a discursive space in local economic development to consider socio-economic issues by emphasizing the importance of complete and attractive communities under a discourse of livability and economic inclusion. By strategically framing the labour market inclusion of immigrants to resonate with the new policy frame, diversity advocates achieved what gender advocates could not: creating community-based partnerships with the mainstream economic development policy community, increasing women's participation in the policy making process, and putting women - albeit "immigrant women" - onto the mainstream agenda. The thesis concludes that the entrepreneurial cities policy frame is more women-friendly than the traditional economic development policy frame, although it is by no means a replacement for a sustainability policy frame. Finally, diversity strategies can empower ethno-culturally diverse women.