W(h)ither Women's Equality? Neoliberalism, Institutional Change and Public Policy in British Columbia

In this article I provide an account of the elimination of Women's Equality as a freestanding ministry in the government of the Canadian province of British Columbia and its reconfiguration as Women's Services and Social Programs, one of several organizational elements in the newly-created Ministry of Community, Aboriginal and Women's Services. I also present an analysis of a number of policy developments with particular significance for women that have accompanied this institutional transformation. In my discussion I argue that while many of these policy directions date from the arrival in office of the current provincial Liberal government, others did not emerge de novo after the 2001 election. Rather, they originated while the left-of-centre New Democratic Party (NDP) formed the government provincially during the 1990s. I assess the relative contributions of ideology and institutional structure to the policy changes that are detailed in the article, and conclude that the relationships between ideology, institutions and policy can best be understood as complex and recursive.