NOVEMBER 27, 2007  

NDP LAUNCHES "FAIRNESS FOR WOMEN" CAMPAIGN

OTTAWA - Today, the NPD's Women's Caucus launched its Fairness for Women
Campaign, aimed at getting women back on the political agenda and increasing
women's participation in Parliament.

Margaret Mitchell, former NDP MP for Vancouver East and an activist in the
fight to end violence against women, joined the Women's Caucus.

"Only 20 per cent of MPs are women," said NDP Status of Women Critic, Irene
Mathyssen (London-Fanshawe).   "That puts Canada 49th in the world in terms
of female representation - trailing countries like Rwanda, Sweden and Costa
Rica.  That's not right.  Women deserve an equal voice in Canadian
politics."

The NDP Women's Caucus will be traveling to cities across the country to
meet with groups and to encourage women to get involved in politics.  The
Fairness for Women campaign tackles six areas: fairness for women at work, a
better work-family balance, an end to violence against women, making sure
women are heard in public and in politics, fairness for marginalized women,
and equality for women around the globe.

"It's time that women's voices resonated as loudly as men's in the corridors
of power.  It's not right that in the 21st century only one in five
lawmakers is a woman," said NDP Leader Jack Layton. "I'm so proud of the
fact that our caucus is made up of 40% women, and we are committed at making
sure that women's voices are heard."

FAIRNESS FOR WOMEN: action plan

of the federal NDP caucus                                                   

 (posted October/07)ON P L A N OF T HE NDP FR A L C AUCUS

INTRODUCTION

Nearly 90 years ago, women got the vote and nearly 80 years ago they were legally recognized as ‘persons’.  Since then, many other important battles have been won for women’s rights. But recently women have been losing ground in their fight for equality as Conservative and Liberal governments in Ottawa have cut programs and taken a step backwards on women’s issues. After decades of progress towards equality, ordinary women in Canada are stalled economically, socially and politically.  Today, women in Canada are still not safe in their homes or on the streets.  An estimated one in four women in Canada is a victim of sexual violence in her lifetime.  In the workplace, women still only make 70% of what men make, and for university graduates it’s getting worse, not better.  Poverty affects almost half of single, widowed or divorced women over 65, and more than 40% of unattached women under 65.  Canada has a strong base on which to build when it comes to women’s equality.  We have guaranteed equality rights in our Charter; decriminalized abortion and birth control, and a strong network of women’s services across the country, including emergency shelters and rape crisis centres.

But when compared to other countries, Canada is underperforming.  The 2006 Global Gender Gap report by the World Economic Forum ranks Canada 14th, behind Sri Lanka, the Philippines and most European countries.  And it could get worse. Lack of attention to women’s rights from successive governments has stalled progress, and the outright opposition to women’s equality from the Harper Conservatives is threatening to turn the clock back. Women and their families deserve better.

There is only one party in Parliament which is steadfastly committed to women’s equality and that’s the New Democratic Party.  The NDP believes that women’s equality is fundamental to this country and is committed to achieving it in every walk of life – from the makeup of the House of Commons, to pay equity, to childcare.  Women make up 41% of the NDP caucus – the highest proportion of women Members of Parliament in Canadian history.

 New Democrats have always stood side-by-side with women’s groups to support equality. Whether speaking out on issues like choice on abortion, breaking the silence on violence against women, electing the first female leader of a federal political party, pushing for proactive legislation on pay and employment equity or making sure that every piece of legislation is examined for its impact on women, the NDP is the party that has walked the talk when it comes to fighting for women’s equality.

 The NDP believes Canadian women deserve fairness, affordability, equal opportunity, equal pay for equal work, a decent standard of living and the freedom to live without fear.

 Only the NDP has the plan to put the priorities of working and middle-class women first by making Canada a world leader for women’s equality.

 1. FAIRNESS FOR WOMEN AT WORK

 In 2004, 58% of all women over 15 were part of the paid workforce, accounting for 47% of workers. (Statistics Canada, Women in Canada: A Gender-based Statistical Report, March 2006)  But women in Canada still aren’t getting the equal pay and equal treatment they deserve. Non-standard forms of employment are increasingly being favoured by employers who are reluctant to offer permanent full-time jobs with benefits.  And cutbacks in public services often means eliminating well-paid jobs that are occupied by women. The NDP plan to ensure fairness for women at work includes:

a. Making ‘equal pay’ the law

On average, women still make only 70% what men make, even when employed full-time, year-round. Unequal pay hurts women and their families and makes women and their children more vulnerable to poverty.  (Statistics Canada, Women in Canada)CT

The right to equal pay is protected by the Human Rights Act and the Charter.  However, current federal pay equity laws don’t work, since they are only activated if someone makes a complaint.  Canada needs ‘proactive’ pay equity legislation that would force all employers to ensure all employees are getting equal pay for equal value of work.

 In 2004, the Pay Equity Task Force reported that federal pay equity legislation, Section 11 of the Human Rights Act, is woefully inadequate and recommended the adoption of a proactive pay equity law.

 The Liberals, true to form, accepted that pay equity is a fundamental human right and then completely failed to act on the report’s recommendations.  The Conservatives have completely ignored the issue despite repeated calls from the NDP to implement the recommendations of the Task Force’s recommendations.

 The NDP’s plan to make Canada a leader in gender equality has the implementation of the Pay Equity Task Force, and the introduction of proactive federal pay equity legislation in particular, at its core.

 b. Increasing access to Employment Insurance

 Today, only one in three unemployed women collects Employment Insurance benefits, down from 70% in 1990.

Changes to EI in the 1990s reduced EI access for part-time, seasonal and low-income workers. Women, who account for about seven in 10 of all part-time employees, were disproportionately affected.

 The NDP plan to ensure access to EI includes an overhaul of the legislation governing employment benefits. In the 39th Parliament, the NDP introduced eight Private Members’ Bills to improve access to this vital income support.

 c. Establishing a $10 minimum wage

 Two-thirds of minimum wage workers over the age of 15 are women.  Many minimum wage earning women are living well below the poverty line.  Clearly, the federal government has a role to play in setting fair pay to ensure the welfare of all hardworking Canadians and their families.  The NDP has tabled a bill to reinstate the federal minimum wage that was scrapped by the Liberals, at $10 hour.

2. A BETTER WORK-FAMILY BALANCE

 More and more women are feeling the ‘super-woman’ crunch. Juggling work, child-care, elder care and other responsibilities is leaving ordinary women overstretched.

In 2004, 70% of women with children under the age of five worked for pay (up from 37% in 1976). The proportion of dual-earners among families with children under 16 at home rose from 36% in 1976, to 58% in 1992, to 69% in 2005.  And yet in most families, women still have the primary respons-ibility for child- and elder-care.

 Subsequent Liberal and Conservative governments have severely cut social programs and access to social and employment assistance. Since it is primarily women who pick up the slack when health care, long-term care and social services fail to deliver, women have become the de facto social safety net in this country.

 The NDP plan to ensure a better work-family balance for women includes the following proposals:

 a. Creating a national child care program

 Women in Canada have the right – and often a need – to work outside the home for income or wages.

And children’s first years are vitally important. But Liberal and Conservative governments have failed to address the friction between these realities.

 They want to believe ’someone else’ will take care of it. And by someone else, they mean women.

 3. Canadian Labour Congress, Submission by the Canadian Labour Congress to the Canada Employment Insurance Commission regarding the 2007 Employment Insurance (EI) Premium Rate Setting, (2003) 3 (1-11).

4. CCPA, Bringing Minimum Wages Above the Poverty Line, March 2007.  As the primary caregivers, women are forced to make sacrifices.  Our patchwork child care system is not made with either women or children in mind. Canadian women and their families have a right to regulated, accessible and affordable child care.

 After much pressure from child care advocates and the NDP, the Liberals introduced a patchwork of agreements with provincial governments. Unfortunately, without a legislative framework approved by Parliament, the Conservatives were able to gut the agreements and introduced an ineffective so-called “universal child care allowance” that has nothing to do with creating new child care spaces.

 Child care is even less available in rural areas.

 The NDP plan to ensure universal child care includes passing the NDP’s National Child Care Act and establishing a network of high-quality, licensed, non-profit childcare spaces.

 b. Improving parental and maternity benefits

 According to the National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL), one in every three mothers lacks access to maternity and parental benefits under Employment Insurance. Women are paying an economic penalty for having children.

The NDP plan to ensure a better work-family balance involves a dramatic overhaul of maternity and parental leave programs.  Parental leave benefits should be extended to self-employed and farm workers; the ‘reach-back’ period that limits eligibility should be extended to five years; and the two-week waiting period before coverage should be eliminated.

 c. Providing dignity and care for seniors

 In 2002, more than 1.7 million adults aged 45 to 64 provided informal care to almost 2.3 million seniors with long-term disabilities or physical limitations.  Seventy percent of these caregivers also had jobs, and the majority were women.

After a lifetime of building this country, seniors deserve dignity and quality care in their later years.  Often, older women are providing these services with virtually no governmental support.  Of particular note are the widows of Canadian veterans whose pension benefits are not being honoured by the government.

The NDP plan to ensure a better work-family balance and dignity for seniors includes fixing the patchwork of home and long-term care, and ensuring high-quality care for seniors.

 d. Increasing flexibility at work

 Employed women are far more likely than their male counterparts to lose time from their jobs because of personal or family responsibilities.  (Statistics Canada, Women in Canada)

In order to make jobs work for women, we need to ensure flexible and family-friendly workplaces.

 A growing number of states in the U.S. are adopting measures to allow workers time off for children’s educational activities, guaranteeing days off for family needs, and restricting mandatory overtime so employees can plan a reasonable home life.

 The NDP plan to ensure a better work-family balance includes the creation of a federal task force to recommend a mix of government policies and laws that will provide better work-life family balance choices.

 3. AN END TO VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Despite a marked rise in awareness of violence against women, half of Canadian women will experience criminal violence by men in their homes, communities, workplaces and schools in their lifetime. While rates of violent crime have been decreasing overall, rape and sexual assault have actually been on the increase. In 2004, an estimated 7% of Canadian women were victim to an abusive partner.  Of those who have experienced this violence, 27% were beaten and 34% feared for their lives.  Women working in the sex trade are particularly vulnerable to violence and death resulting from gender-based violence.

Recent Conservative changes to Status of Women Canada’s mandate, on top of cuts to funds for women’s shelters and transition houses under the Liberals, have limited the options available to victims of abuse.         N P L A N OF T HE NDP F R A L C AUCUS

 e. Tightening gun control

The Conservatives want to throw out gun control laws that emerged after the Montreal massacre of 14 women – despite evidence that the presence of a gun in the home is strongly associated with the risk of homicide by a family member or intimate acquaintance.

Between 1995, when Canada tightened its gun laws, and 2003, the gun murder rate for women dropped by 40%.  Instead of listening to the experts, the Conservatives rely on a law and order agenda that does little to stop violence against women.

 The NDP sees halting the illegal import of handguns from the United States as essential to controlling gun violence.  New Democrats support legislative, regulatory, and sentencing initiatives to embody the principle that handguns have no place in our cities, except in the hands of law enforcement officials.

 4. MAKING SURE WOMEN ARE HEARD – IN PUBLIC, IN POLITICS

 Public policy impacts men and women differently; equality therefore demands equal representation in decision-making and in public affairs.  We need to ensure that women’s voices are heard more consistently in the House of Commons, at all levels of government and in all areas of public life. Rural women have particular barriers to participation.  Lack of public transit, child care, social programs, and seasonal jobs make it difficult for women in rural areas to participate meaningfully in public life.

The NDP understands the need for women’s voices on Parliament Hill and for women’s organizations who promote women’s equality.

 The NDP plan to make women’s voices heard includes:

 a. Strengthening Status of Women

 The Conservative cuts to Status of Women Canada, and the closure of 12 of the 16 Status offices across the country, is a major setback for women’s equality.  By changing the requirements for funding under Status of Women, groups that do research and advocate changes to public policy to promote women’s equality will no longer be eligible for federal funding.

Harper eliminated nearly half of the Status of Women staff responsible for the advancement of women’s rights, and 40% of the operating budget for Status of Women Canada.

The NDP is pushing for an independent Status of Women department, with full funding and its own Minister.

An effective Status of Women Department must be able to research, monitor and advocate for women’s rights, and support women’s groups who are promoting gender equality.

 b. Electing more women

Worldwide, Canada has one of the worst records for the representation of women in Parliament.  Despite a lot of talk of the need for more women in politics, the Conservatives have only 11% women in their caucus, the Liberals only 20% and the Bloc 33%.  The NDP leads the way with 41% – the largest percentage of any party in Canadian history.

When it comes to electing women, the NDP doesn’t just talk, it acts. It was the first federal party to elect a female leader, Audrey McLaughlin, and has policies committed to having 50% female candidates in winnable ridings and giving women support to help them win nominations and elections.

c. Supporting Advocacy

Given women’s poor representation in Parliament, provincial legislatures and city and town halls, women’s advocacy groups are critically important to ensuring that women’s voices are heard in the corridors of power. But the Conservatives have placed a virtual ban on funding women’s advocacy groups.

While the Liberals pay lip service to supporting women’s advocacy groups, they massively cut funding to these groups over the years they were in power, and shifted the focus of funding from advocacy to research.

 The advocacy, research and policy development of women’s organizations and women’s centres in this country has been, and will continue to be, vital in achieving systemic change for women’s equality.

 Aboriginal women living in remote communities often have no access to shelters at all.  These women are making the impossible choice between losing their home or living in fear with an abusive partner.

The NDP plan to end violence against women includes:

a. Guaranteeing access to justice

 In the 1990s, the Liberal government capped, then cut, federal funding for legal aid.  The result was a dramatic decrease in the availability of legal services that has, according to 2004 research by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, been “devastating” for women.  “Without adequate legal representation, women are losing custody of their children, giving up valid legal rights to [financial] support, and being victimized through litigation harassment”.  (CCPA, Legal Aid Denied: Women and the Cuts to Legal Services in BC, September 2004)

The Conservative government added insult to injury by cancelling the Court Challenges Program, which allowed groups experiencing the effects of discriminatory laws to challenge those laws.

 The NDP plan to ensure access to justice for women includes a re-instatement of the Court Challenges Program and the restoration of funding to legal aid.

 b. Stopping violence against Aboriginal women

 Violence against Aboriginal women must stop. Young aboriginal women are five times more likely to die from violence than other women in Canada. Racism, the legacy of residential schools and the lack of housing and education opportunities work together to make Aboriginal women vulnerable.