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If Canada’s prime minister were a woman, she wouldn’t have been permitted where Justin Trudeau stood earlier this week: on the ground floor of a gender-segregated Ottawa mosque for Eid al-Adha celebrations. Most Canadians understand that the prime minister will, on occasion, be granted extraordinary access to certain facilities or events, but that is typically because of the fact he’s the prime minister, not because he’s a man.

But on Monday, Trudeau’s gender granted him access to a spot where half the population wouldn’t be allowed to stand (unless they get special permission), not the least of which include the premier of the province, the leader of the Opposition and any hypothetical future female prime ministers.

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To many, the appearance was another example of the hypocrisy of a government that talks the talk on feminism but has trouble executing “real change” — to borrow a phrase from the governing Liberals. To be sure, the Trudeau government has mastered the easy stuff when it comes to women’s rights: the prime minister proudly calls himself a feminist, for example, and he has promised a Canadian woman on a banknote and delivered gender parity in cabinet. Canada will likely also see its new “gender neutral” national anthem soon made official, and its next representative to the International Monetary Fund will be a woman — a Canadian first.