New
Federal Policies Affecting Women's Equality: Reality Check
CRIAW's
latest Fact Sheet
November
24, 2006
Do you agree with the federal Conservatives that “women
are already equal”?
Check out CRIAW's hard-hitting new fact sheet:
“New Federal Policies Affecting Women's Equality: Reality Check”(PDF file)
It summarizes “facts” and “current government policy” for six issues.
Read text below, highlighting one detail from each section.
ECONOMIC
INEQUALITY:
“At every level of education, women in Canada earn less on average than men . . . . In terms of the ratio of male to female earned income (the wage gap), Canada ranks 38th in the world.”
“On Sept. 18, 2006, the federal government responded “no” to the recommendations of a multiyear federal Task Force on Pay Equity, as part of its response to the all-party House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women’s endorsement of the pay equity recommendations.”
CHILD CARE:
“The European Union (EU) suggests European governments should spend 1% of the GDP on child care/early childhood learning, which they recognize as valuable for all children. Under the 2004 child care announcement, Canada would spend $1 billion per year on child care and early childhood learning, representing less than 0.1% of the GDP.”
“The first act of the current government after taking office was to announce the cancellation of Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) agreements worth $1 billion per year between the federal and provincial governments after 2006, even though the OECD recommended in 2003 that Canada ‘Strengthen the present federal/ provincial/territorial agreements and focus them as much as possible on child development and learning.’”
HOUSING:
“Canada signed the United Nations Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, which guarantees in Article 11(1) a right to adequate housing.”
“[Current government] Rewrote the terms and conditions of the Women’s Program to remove “equality” and ban research, advocacy and lobbying, so Canadian women’s organizations will no longer have the funds to independently monitor and press for Canada’s implementation of UN charters and international human rights agreements.”
LEGAL AID:
“In its study of the availability of legal aid, the African Canadian Legal Clinic stated: “Lawyers are now faced with the dilemma of choosing who will be properly represented and be able to secure access to justice. The maximum seventeen hours of representation now allotted on many certificates are not enough for counsel to properly prepare and present a full case.”
“[Current government] Did not use any of the $13.2 billion surplus on legal aid, so lower-income women can better access family and civil law.”
FEDERALLY-SENTENCED WOMEN:
“[B]etween 1996 and 2004, the number of First Nations people in federal institutions increased by 21.7%.... Moreover, the number of federally incarcerated First Nations women increased a staggering 74.2% over this period.”
“[Current government] Proposed an American-style ‘three strikes and you’re out’ law to jail certain offenders indefinitely. Those particularly affected would include Aboriginal women with addictions or histories of abuse who have acted out in violence and have inadequate access to healing.”
POLITICAL PARTICIPATION:
“According to the United Nations, Canada ranks 30th in the world in terms of the representation of women in Parliament, behind Sweden, Norway, Rwanda, Trinidad and Tobago and many other countries on every continent.”
“Current government] Cut Status of Women Canada’s by $5 million, which represents 40% of this federal agency’s administrative budget, because “women are already equal”.
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