An Immigration Gender Gap: Category-Based Selection Favours Men, Data Reveals

Key Takeaways

• Recent data shows that the Express Entry system tends to attract and invite more men each year from 2021-2023. 
• The data also shows that the Category-Based Selection (CBS) Canada introduced in 2023 seems to favour men in terms of eligibility and selection for an invitation. 
• There is a risk that Canada’s category-based draws will further increase the gender gap between men and women who apply for and receive invitations to apply for permanent residency through the Express Entry system.
• You can read the full report for yourself here.

Who Is Entering The Express Entry Pool: Gender Data

Key Takeaway: More Express Entry eligible profiles entered the selection pool were submitted by men every year from 2021 to 2023. 

Here’s the data: 

In 2023, we saw 342,875 eligible profiles submitted to the Express Entry profile. Of those profiles: 

• 183,925 eligible profiles belonged to men (53.5% of the total).
• 159,883 eligible profiles belonged to women (46.5% of the total).

These figures were similar in recent previous years too, where we saw the following percentages of eligible profiles: 

• In 2022, 53.3% of eligible profiles were submitted by men, and 46.7% by women.
• In 2021, 54.2% of eligible profiles were submitted by men, and 45.8% by women. 

Women Are More Likely To Submit An Eligible Profile

As a quick aside, women were more likely to submit an eligible profile than men. 

IRCC did not comment in the report on why they think this is. But we wonder whether there are parallels between this and data showing that women are less likely to apply for jobs where they do not meet most or all of the criteria. 

Here’s the data: 

In 2023, 25% of the total number of profiles submitted by women were ineligible, while 33% of the total number of profiles submitted by men were not eligible for Express Entry. This trend tracks back to 2021 and 2022, each year fewer ineligible women submitted profiles than men. 

Women Are More Likely To Receive Additional CRS Points

Women are more likely to submit an Express Entry profile with additional CRS points. These points are available for arranged employment, education in Canada, French-language skills, and having a sibling in Canada. 

Women are just as or more likely than men to get additional CRS points for: 

• French-language proficiency. 
• Having a sibling in Canada. 

However, men are slightly more likely than women to get additional points for education in Canada, and significantly more likely than women to have arranged employment in Canada.

Invitations To Apply To Express Entry and Gender

The data from the 2023 Express Entry report reveals a consistent gender gap between the number of invitations issued to men and women. Men consistently received around 57-58% of all invitations, regardless of year. Women received 42-43%. 

Here’s what the data tells us about how many invitations to apply men receive compared to women: 

2021

• Men: 65,977 ITAs (58%0
• Women: 48,446 ITAs (42%)

2022

• Men: 27,092 ITAs (58%)
• Women: 19,446 ITAs (42%)

2023

• Men: 62,642 ITAs (57%)
• Women: 47,612 ITAs (43%)

Were There Gender Differences In Express Entry Programs? 

There were some general gender trends that persisted throughout 2021-2023 between the Federal Skilled Worker, Canadian Experience Class, and Provincial Nominee Program invitation recipients:

• More women received ITAs through the Federal Skilled Worker program in 2022 and 2023 compared to men. 
• Men consistently received more ITAs than women through the CEC and PNP programs. 

Express Entry Category Based Selection

So, we can see from the above data that Express Entry selection has tended to attract more males than females to the candidate pool and more men are receiving invitations to apply than women. 

We can also see that the number of women and men receiving invitations to apply did not change in 2023 when category-based selection was introduced. But does that mean that category-based selection is gender neutral? Not quite. 

Here’s how gender differences are appearing under category-based selection: 

More Men Are Eligible For Category-Based Selection

The data tells us that in 2023, more men were eligible for category-based selection than women – in terms of both the total number AND the percentage total. 

There were 183,925 men in the pool in 2023, and 83,241 of them were eligible for category-based selection. That translates to 45.3% of the pool of eligible male candidates being eligible for category-based selection. Just 32.3% of women candidates in the Express Entry pool were eligible for category-based selection. 

Just 32.3% of women candidates in the Express Entry pool were eligible for category-based selection. There is a clear discrepancy between men and women under Canada’s category-based selection. 

When we dig deeper, the data reveals: 

• 61.7% of the pool of candidates who are eligible for category-based selection are men. 
• Men are significantly more likely to be eligible for 4 out of 6 possible categories for selection, namely Agriculture, STEM, Trades, and Transport.
• Men are equally as likely as women to be eligible for category-based selection for French-language skills. 
• So, women are only more likely to be eligible for category-based selection for healthcare occupations. 

More Men Receive Invitations Via Category-Based Selection

In addition to more men being eligible for Canada’s Express Entry categories, a higher percentage of men (62.77%) received their invitations through category-based selection compared to women (55.78%) in 2023.

So, Why Is This A Problem? 

We know that more men tend to apply for Express Entry and get accepted into the pool. Now, Canada has introduced a system that prioritizes category-based draws that are likely to favour men. 

Based on the data we’re seeing, there will be a higher percentage of men selected through Express Entry in 2024. This is because the composition of the pool is likely predominantly male and category-based selection also potentially favouring men. 

That being said, we are working with limited data here. We only have six months of category-based data to draw these conclusions. It’s possible that the data from selection in 2024 will tell a different story. 

So, we’re really looking forward to the 2024 Express Entry reporting. This will likely be released in around August of 2025, and we hope it doesn’t reveal a greater gap in access to Express Entry invitations for women.