Can-Con

Harper’s Gendered Attack on Justin Trudeau

Recent print attack ad against Justin Trudeau by the Conservatives.

Recent print attack ad against Justin Trudeau by the Conservatives.

by Matt Moir. Matt is a writer based in Toronto.

Michelle Rempel rolled her eyes and paused, choosing her words carefully.

Standing in the lobby outside the House of Commons, the Conservative MP for Calgary Centre had just been informed that she had been voted Sexiest Female MP in an Ottawa newspaper’s annual poll.

“I get the opportunity to speak to a lot of women’s groups about encouraging women to run for office, and about women’s leadership issues and the number one thing I always say is women should be judged and evaluated by their merit.”

If only her boss would heed her message.

Her Conservative Party’s negative ad campaign against Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau may, as some have claimed, be successfully rallying the Tory base, and thus helping the party fill its coffers. But it’s also alienating a section of the electorate vital to Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s chances of winning another majority government: female voters.

Trudeau’s poll numbers are overwhelmingly positive among women. A recent Harris/Decima poll found that 61% of Canadian women view Trudeau favorably, whereas Harper is viewed favorably by only 37% of women.

Some commentators attribute this support for Trudeau to the fact that women in Canada traditionally are more supportive of left-leaning politicians than conservative ones.

Others say that women are drawn to the Liberal leader’s charisma and good looks- he was, after all, voted sexiest MP in The Hill Times’ annual survey.

What shouldn’t be discounted, though – and what probably should be explored further – is that Canadian women might be able to identify with the young MP, and the nature of the personal attack ads he’s had to endure.

Immediately after Trudeau won his party’s leadership race, the Tories unleashed a torrent of ads attacking the newly minted Liberal leader. This is nothing new, of course. The Conservatives are well versed in the art of the political takedown; just ask Stéphane Dion and Michael Ignatieff. But what makes the ‘Justin’ ads different is the unseemly gender baiting aspect to them. Read more

Posted on May 13, 2013 by jarrahpenguin in Can-Con, Feminism, Politics Leave a comment

Why the Delay Approving RU486 in Canada?

ru486by Jarrah Hodge

Australia is well on its way to making publicly available mifepristone and misoprostol, two drugs that make up RU486, used for abortion up to 49 days after becoming pregnant. If you’ve never heard of it it might sound a little scary, and that’s the angle anti-choice activists and legislators love to promote, but the truth is RU486 has been around for more than 20 years and has been demonstrated to be very safe. It is approved for use in 38 countries and is the preferred method for medical abortion in many, including France.

According to the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals, RU486 has been associated with proportionately fewer deaths than Tylenol or Viagra. It’s also less risky than going through a full-term pregnancy.

Gail Rhyno at ROAR notes that RU486 is on the World Health Organization’s Model List of Essential Medicines, which catalogues 312 drugs considered international benchmarks in meeting “priority care needs”.

If a woman needs to terminate a pregnancy, it doesn’t make sense to prevent her from choosing this option. It allows a woman to make the decision with her family doctor and not have to face in many cases travelling long distances to a clinic where they may be subject to anti-choice harassment. Even more importantly, it has lower complication rates and is significantly cheaper than other forms of medical abortion. In Australia, public pharmaceutical coverage is likely to make RU486 available to all women for $36, and $12 for women who receive benefits.

So why the delay in Canada? In a country where many women still face barriers to accessing surgical abortion, it would certainly fill a need. It’s important to note there is an approved method of medical abortion in some places in Canada, but it’s not as efficient or effective. Health Canada’s procedures for approving drugs are stringent (as they should be), but the issue is not that the drug has gone through the process and failed; it has never been submitted to the final step for approval. Some RU486 advocates believe that what’s missing to get it through the process is political will and a greater commitment from Health Canada.  Fern Hill at Dammit Janet points out that Health Canada’s handling of the recent Apotex birth control pill recall raised questions about the agency’s level of understanding of women’s reproductive health needs.

The best thing to do right now is for people who care about reproductive health to educate themselves on RU486 and to raise the issue with your family doctor or OB/GYN. It’s time for Canada to catch up with the rest of the world on making private abortion safer and more effective.

(photo of pills [not RU486]  via Wikimedia Commons)

Posted on May 9, 2013 by jarrahpenguin in Can-Con, Feminism, Politics Leave a comment

Get Ready to Close the Gender Gap…in 2240

 

"Canada's gender gap 1993-2012" from "Closing Canada's Gender Gap

“Canada’s gender gap 1993-2012″ from “Closing Canada’s Gender Gap

by Jarrah Hodge

A new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has given Canada a reality check: our progress on reducing the economic and political gender gap in the country is stalled to the point that it will take us over two centuries at the current rate to achieve gender equality.

CCPA Research Associate Kate McInturff used a method developed by the World Economic Forum to calculate our score in the areas of health, education, economics and politics. On the plus side, our score on education and health care are nearly perfect, but our scores for economic opportunity and participation and political representation are significantly lower.

It’s a disconnect that might not seem to make sense; you’d think the high levels of women’s educational attainment would mean more political and economic success. However, McInturff points out “ the income gap is actually greater for women with university or college degrees than it is for those with high school diplomas. Having a university degree means a higher level of income overall, yes, but it also means facing a higher level of wage discrimination.”

An even bigger drag on Canada’s overall gender equality score is the lack of women in public office and top corporate management roles. In these areas together, men outnumber women two to one. In the report, McInturff says while the fact that women take on a far greater share of childcare and housework in heterosexual families is a factor, women choosing to stay home with the kids can’t account for the full discrepancy: “Certainly there are women (and men) who are in an economic position to work less in order to spend more time with their families. But the truth is, most Canadian families don’t earn enough to allow one or more family members to choose not to work. And whether by choice or necessity, 70% of all mothers with children under the age of six are working parents.”

So we have a situation where we just don’t have a critical mass of women at the top. Only one of Canada’s top 100 CEOs is a woman and despite our record number of women Premiers, women still make up only about 25% of members in provincial legislatures. The number’s about the same federally, with even fewer women in the government caucus (about 17%). Read more

Posted on April 25, 2013 by jarrahpenguin in Can-Con, Feminism, Politics Leave a comment

Equal Pay Day: Time to Close the Gap

Screen Shot 2013-04-09 at 6.49.47 AMby Jarrah Hodge

This shouldn’t  be news for regular readers of this blog, but on average women in Canada still aren’t paid equally to men. In Ontario the pay gap is 28% and the Equal Pay Coalition of labour and community groups is calling for the provincial government to officially recognize today, April 9, as Equal Pay Day, just as it has been in the U.S., Australia, and many European countries.

As the coalition points out:

Equal Pay Day marks the injustice faced by women and focuses the efforts of governments, legislators employers and others on working together to close the pay gap.

The hope is that with greater awareness and action, the day can be earlier each year until it is no longer needed.

Here’s what you can do to help out: 

1. Email Premier Kathleen Wynne to ask her to recognize April 9 as Equal Pay Day. A form email is already set up on the coalition’s website – you just need to enter your info and hit send.

2. Wear red today to show your support and make the point that women are “in the red” in terms of their wages. Whether or not you’re wearing red, take a minute to get some more facts about the pay gap and make a commitment to talking to your friends, relatives, or coworkers about the gap and why it’s important to close it.

3. Tweet using the #EqualPayDay hashtag

4. If you’re feeling particularly motivated, check out the other action ideas the Coalition has put together (.pdf).

EPC0103-Outrach-Infographic-FINAL

(Source: fairontario.ca)

 

 

Posted on April 9, 2013 by jarrahpenguin in Can-Con, Feminism, Politics 2 Comments

31 Steps to End Violence Against Women in BC

violenceby Jarrah Hodge

With a provincial election coming up, the Jane Doe Legal Network has come out with a list of “31 Things British Columbia Can Do Right Now to End Violence Against Women”.  Starting in March to coincide with International Women’s Day, the group released one recommendation a day for 31 days. As the network stated in its release:

Women in British Columbia have waited too long already. That is why we are offering 31 things that BC’s new Provincial Office of Domestic Violence (PODV) can push for right now to increase safety for women and to bring us closer than we have ever been to ending violence against women once and for all.   We are calling for 31 social, economic and legal changes, none of which are unachievable in this province. Some would require very little financial investment, and each of them will save resources in the long term given the high costs of violence against women.

These have all been shared at the Jane Doe site and Battered Women’s Support Services’ Ending Violence Blog, with more detail on each recommendation, but I wanted to share the list and summaries of each point for those of you who are looking for what policies to support and advocate for when contacting your local candidates. Many of the recommendations are also applicable to other jurisdictions and might help focus work for activists outside BC.

  1. Call violence against women what it is. We  need to shift our language away from euphemism and legalese in  law, in policy, the courts and  everyday life in order to make systemic problems visible.
  2. Audit for compliance with BC’s Violence Against Women in Relationship policy. There needs to be monitoring for compliance and consistency with the VAWIR policy guidelines for professionals, including police, Crown, probation officers and child protection workers.
  3. Meet the immediate financial and housing needs of women fleeing violence, including making sure women fleeing violence can access short-term income assistance, child care, and transitional housing.
  4. Enhance access to justice for women – invest in family, immigration and poverty law legal aid services. BC needs to support funding for legal aid so abused women don’t have to compromise their rights in order to avoid self-representing or accruing unmanageable legal costs.
  5. Make addressing women’s inequality a core learning objective for all BC students. My personal favourite. We need to start at least in secondary school to educate kids about gender inequality and teach them that women have equal value. It’s part of making violence less acceptable.
  6. Add sexual violence by police to the mandate of the Independent Investigations Office. The IIO was established to investigate cases of death or serious harm at the hands of police, but it has no mandate to ensure the safety of women who have been sexually assaulted by police, or to protect police officers’ intimate partners when fleeing abuse.
  7. Address the feminization of poverty with a provincial anti-poverty plan. BC needs a comprehensive anti-poverty plan that includes a gender lens to help marginalized groups of women who are particularly susceptible to poverty.
  8. Push to add gender and sex to the hate crime provisions of Canada’s Criminal Code. BC should lobby the federal government to add sex and gender to legal hate crime provisions to send the message that misogyny is real and as devastating as any other kind of hate.
  9. Bring back regional coordination committees for women’s safety. In the 1990s the government supported regional committees of government agencies and non-profits working on issues around violence against women. These committees collaborated on policy issues and collaborated on some specific cases.
  10. Join the call for a national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women. Hundreds of Indigenous women have gone missing or been murdered in Canada and the provincial government needs to join the many individuals and organizations who have called for a national inquiry.
  11. Do not let immigration status stand in the way of women’s safety. Women fleeing violence should not have their immigration status called into question or be reported to Border Services, as some women advocates report happens currently.
  12. Value the expertise of women’s organizations by investing in their work. Financially supporting experienced women’s organizations will yield optimal return on investment as women fleeing violence would be more able to swiftly access counselling, legal services, and “Stopping the Violence” programs. Read more
Posted on April 3, 2013 by jarrahpenguin in Can-Con, Feminism, Politics Leave a comment

FFFF: VAWA “22″ Parody

FFFF

The Ms. Foundation for Women made this really cute parody of a Taylor Swift song to call out the 22 US Senators that voted against the Violence Against Women Act in February. Here’s the background they give:

“The Senate, with a huge majority – 78 to 22 – passed a version of the Violence Against Women Act that includes protections for members of the LGBTQ community, immigrant women and Native American women. Now it goes to the House of Representatives, where the minority leaders have introduced their own bill that strips some of these protections. Think about the gall of those 22 senators who said no to women’s safety. We’ve thought about them a lot. In fact, we made this catchy parody of Taylor Swift’s “22″ in their (dis)honor. Watch it & share with 22 of your friends.”

Posted on March 15, 2013 by jarrahpenguin in Feminism, FFFF, Politics Leave a comment
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