International Women's Day
Mar 05, 2009
equality, equity, rights, women
The United Nations adopted a resolution in 1977 calling upon its member states to proclaim a day for women’s rights and international peace known as International Women’s Day (IWD). This day symbolizes how far women around the world have come in their struggle for equality and recognizes the many challenges that remain. The United Nations theme for this year is "Women and Men: United to End Violence against Women."Canadians celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD) on March 8th each year. The Canadian theme for International Women’s Day 2009 is “Strong Leadership. Strong Women. Strong World: Equality.” In announcing the theme for this year, Status of Women Canada states that “the theme reflects the government’s firm belief that increasing women’s participation and access to leadership roles and opportunities will help women and girls thrive, reach their full potential and fulfill their dreams, and help build a more prosperous Canada.
While it is very true that increasing women’s participation and access to leadership roles will help women and will build a better Canada, it is hard to imagine that the Harper government actually believes it. In the past two years the Harper Conservative Government has harshly attacked Canadian women’s rights. From eliminating funding to women’s organizations that research or advocate for equality, the removal of “equality” from the mandate of the Status of Women Canada and the elimination of the Court Challenges Program, the government has consistently moved away from women obtaining equality in this country.
And as we enter into a deepening economic crisis in Canada, once again women have been left out. The recently released federal budget did not provide any support to women who are often more deeply affected by harsh economic times. The need for a universal early childhood education and care program and the need to amend the Employment Insurance eligibility requirements (six out of 10 unemployed women can’t access benefits) have been ignored.
The government has also attacked pay equity. In a country where women earn only 71 cents for every dollar a Canadian male earns, the government has now eliminated the right of women who work in the federal government to file complaints for pay equity with the Canadian Human Rights Commission.
“As we celebrate the accomplishments of women in both Canada and around the world, we must realize that these accomplishments have been achieved through hard work and perseverance. We must not allow our government to move women’s equality backwards. This country needs strong female leadership,” states James Clancy, national president of the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE).
“More than half of the population of Canada is female, yet women are severely underrepresented in our federal, provincial and municipal governments. We need to move forward, not backwards, on women’s equality issues and ensure that Canadian women’s voices are heard at every level of government.”
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Women in the Canadian Labour movement continue to struggle in their efforts in securing their role in leadership positions. “In the labour movement the leadership should look like the membership”. Sadly this is not true – in the public sector our National, Provincial and Local leaders are male dominated despite women making up almost 75% of the membership. Women’s needs are different and these differences need to be acknowledged and supported. Potential women leaders and current women leaders need support in finding their voices, developing basic skills, they will need support in figuring out the politics and setting the agenda. Many Unions have made great strides in providing education opportunities for women to learn the basic skills and finding their voices. The final areas of figuring out the politics and setting the agenda is usually danger point for aspiring women leaders, especially in traditional locals based on the servicing model. Potential women leaders may find that the “good-old-boys” network that is not open to them or to new ideas. Furthermore, incumbent leaders, male or female, may feel threatened by them and so may put obstacles in the path of the aspiring leaders. Of course, many local unions would strongly deny that they do not operate this way. But either of these effects might cause the aspiring leader to become disillusioned with their union and to disengage from labour activism. The current leaders who are sincere in wanting to support women as leaders should not promote women into certain less valued roles and should be developed into more “power and influential” roles. Women leaders in 2009 forward should not be organizing parties, picnics and conferences they should be organizing new members. Women need to vigorously seek roles in grievance handling, contract negotiations, organizing and open every door to where there are meetings behind closed doors. Too often many of male leaders have the opportunity to attend broader Labour movement programs and events outside their own local unions – so they can gain a broader perspective. By encouraging women to learn about how other people—and especially other women—advanced in their union careers. The information they learn will help them understand how to move up within their own political structure. Every day not just today March 8th – Women need to be celebrated. More women must develop their skills and demonstrate their commitment to the labour movement. Women must work honestly with other women and with male allies as well. Even with the best of intentions women activists are not likely to be sufficient to make significant changes in the gender gap in union leadership. Changes in organizational structures and cultures are needed as well.
Nite Owl - 2009-03-08 08:56