Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) and Intersectionality: Overview, an Enhanced Framework, and a British Columbia Case Study

Abstract

In this paper, we present an overview of GBA+ and its central components, as well as a case study application of the framework to the question of poverty in the British Columbia context. We begin by tracing the theoretical foundations and development of SWC’s GBA+ tool, touching on the relevance of the framework given broader government goals of diversity, inclusion, and inclusive growth. Next, we consider the limitations and potential of GBA+ as operationalized in Canada, and then build on this analysis to adjust the existing GBA+ tool, with the goals of better incorporating the concept of intersectionality and rendering the framework useful beyond governmental contexts. Finally, we apply relevant elements of the adapted framework in a case study, examining the issue of poverty in B.C. from a gendered and intersectional perspective. Our main finding is that exploring the nature and causes of poverty in B.C. results in a harrowing picture, both of need and oppression, and one that government systems have been complicit in constructing. As a result, the BC Government will need to implement GBA+ frameworks within a context that includes broader reconsiderations of government process, structures, institutions, and norms, with an aim to remove discrimination and bias (e.g., heteronormativity, colonialism, misogyny, ableism). Ultimately, an understanding of both the broad context of systemic pathologies and the barriers associated with intersecting identity factors and social positions that shape individual experiences will be integral for analysts hoping to advance agendas of diversity, inclusion, and poverty reduction, particularly through the development of public policy.