Invisible Young Women and Public Policy in Ontario

Abstract

Scholars across research fields have pointed to the exclusion of young women from theories and studies of citizenship, political engagement, and public policy. Limited systematic attention has been paid to whether or how diverse young women's experiences are reflected in public policy. We ask (a) in which provincial policy areas in Ontario do diverse young women warrant unique attention and (b) how are their experiences reflected in these areas? Using intersectionality to guide our analysis, we find that diverse young women's unique experiences are largely invisible in Ontario public policies, despite Ontario's introduction of an Inclusion Lens in policy development and analysis in 2011. We argue for efforts to counter the dominance of neoliberalism, which serves to individualize responsibility, erase difference, and diminish young women's political agency.