Equality between women and men: 50 years of evolution in Quebec

(Translated title)

Louise Cordeau

This conference is part of the Montréal Health Ethics Lecture Series 2025

(This conference will be held in French)

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You can also attend this conference in person.

To see past conferences: YouTube channel of the Pragmatic Health Ethics Research Unit.

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Summary of the presentation:
The Conseil du statut de la femme (CSF) was created in 1973, with the mission of “advising the Minister on all matters submitted to him concerning equality and respect for women's rights and status”. Five years later, it published an opinion entitled Pour les Québécoises: égalité et indépendance, in which it reviewed the status of women in Quebec and made over 300 recommendations to the government to promote gender equality.

In 2023, to mark the 50th anniversary of its founding, the CSF revisited the picture painted in 1978 in its report L'égalité entre les femmes et les hommes : Regard sur 50 ans d'évolution au Québec. At this conference, CSF President Me Louise Cordeau, C. Q., will discuss the advances made by Quebec women over the past 50 years and their current concerns, basing her analysis on this work.

Biography:
Ms. Cordeau began her career in private practice. She subsequently served as Chief of Staff to the President of the Quebec National Assembly, then to the Minister of Canadian Intergovernmental Affairs and the Reform of Democratic Institutions. 

She acquired cutting-edge expertise in the media industry, first as Director of Radio-Canada in Quebec City, for television, radio and the Web. She was subsequently appointed Publisher and Chief Executive Officer of Le Journal de Québec at Québecor Media Inc. and is the first woman to have held this position since the newspaper's creation in 1967.

Among her honours, she was made a Knight of the French National Order of Merit in 2008. She also received the YWCA's Woman of Distinction award in the Business and Profession category in 2009. In 2019, she was named Chevalière de l'Ordre national du Québec. 

In 2020, Ms. Cordeau was awarded the Médaille du Conseil du Barreau de Québec. This distinction was awarded in recognition of her values of justice, rigor and vision for Quebec society.

In 2022, Ms. Cordeau was named Chevalier dans l'Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur in recognition of her commitment to the development of feminist diplomacy.

Louise Cordeau has been President of the Conseil du statut de la femme since February 2017. She is currently serving her second term as president of the CSF.

At the heart of her action: issues of equality between women and men, and highlighting women's contribution to Quebec's economic and social development!

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2025 SERIES THEME

Ethnical issues related to women's health and well-being