Lies, damned lies...

Canwest papers recently ran a piece on the increase in female federal bureaucrats. While interesting, the data needs to be read in a very particular context.

In 1995, men represented 54.1 per cent of all "core" public administration employees. By 2006, the situation had reversed with women representing 54.2 per cent of core public administration employees, according to a Statistics Canada report released yesterday.

The study looked at employees of the Treasury Board, which excludes the military, RCMP, crown corporations and the Canada Revenue Agency.

That last sentence is absolutely crucial, as it significantly restricts the statistics' scope; furthermore, it has less to do with a change in hiring practices and more to do with a sharp rise in layoffs and outsourcing of male-dominated positions.

Plus, all this happened under Liberal governments... I wonder what the numbers will look like in five years?

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The Arts & Crafts label, home to indie luminaries like the Stars, Broken Social Scene, Feist, the Hidden Cameras, the Dears and others, has a nice collection of videos available for download on their site. I'm especially fond of BSS' "Almost Crimes" with its herky-jerky silhouettes and the low-rent charm of Amy Millan's "Skinny Boy".