Women’s History Month 2021 – Why Canada’s Failing Women
From the lack of supports for victims of domestic violence, the ever-present wage gap, how much do we really have to celebrate this Women's History Month?
Shweta Menon is a graduate student at the Max Bell School of Public Policy who hails from India. Prior to joining the Max Bell School, she has worked as a Research Associate with a Member of Parliament in India. She has also worked as a journalist where she covered the laws and policies of India. She is interested in the intersection of AI and gender-neutral laws. Write us at newsletterthebell@gmail.com
“I have never felt safe or protected in my position, especially within the House of Commons… I’m reminded every step of the way I don’t belong here… and as an Indigenous person, as an Inuk, as a woman here in Canada, I don't see any pride in being a Canadian.” These were some of the most powerful words said by former MP, Mumilaaq Qaqqaq in her farewell speech in June 2021. Coming from a woman sitting in one of the highest political echelons of the country, this statement poses a serious question about the treatment of women in Canada. Her statement becomes of particular importance with the backdrop of Canada's annual celebration of Women’s History Month. As we look back in time, we realize that although we’ve made big steps towards gender equality, Canada still has a lot further to go.
Women’s History Month is celebrated to mark the contributions of women throughout history. Prime Minister Trudeau declared the theme this year to be “Women Making History Now” – and they truly are, in a variety of ways. This month we’ve seen several marches of solidarity to bring awareness to women’s issues throughout the country, but especially in Quebec where people raised a series of concerns around racial profiling, economic integration of immigrants, and eliminating violence against women. While the idea behind this year’s theme was to recognize the contribution of women during the pandemic, especially as unpaid caregivers, the situation on the ground had already been becoming grimmer for some time.
Dr. Nancy Janovicek, Associate Professor at the University of Calgary whose area of specializations includes women’s and gender history, believes that “the historical impact of women today is that they are still demanding their rights. The impact is the ongoing activism by women’s organizations to make governments accept that women’s poverty is systemic and structural and that it is connected to government policies that kind of assume that women are not the primary breadwinners. There is still a refusal on part of the government to understand that racism, sexism and poverty are systemic issues.”
In saying that, Dr. Janovicek makes a very valid point about the lack of support available for vulnerable women. A report by the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability concludes that in 2020 alone, 160 females were violently killed in Canada. That’s an average of one woman/girl being killed every 2.5 days. There’s also been an exponential increase in the number of calls registered for domestic violence, especially during the COVID lockdowns. On top of that, a 2019 study showed that an average of 620 women and children a day were turned away from Canadian domestic shelter homes. That’s 19,000 incidents a month where women were denied safety. Incidents like these pose another challenge for victims of domestic violence that have nowhere to go thus highlighting the issue of pervasive invisible homelessness among women.
And yet a federal law for the protection against domestic violence in Canada still doesn’t exist. Some provinces and territories indeed have specific legislation, but the recourse for domestic violence victims isn’t uniform throughout the country. It becomes next to impossible for victims to survive on the minimum wage jobs that the majority of them seek post-separation. Additionally, the recent rise of Ontario’s minimum wage by 10 cents is practically a slap in the face for those who depend on it. According to recent data, for every dollar earned by a man in Canada, a woman earns just 89 cents (as measured in hourly wages for full-time workers). The wage gap is even more significant for racialized women, women who are newcomers, women with disabilities, Indigenous women, and transgender women.”
The Government of Canada only recently introduced the federal Pay Equity Act which came into effect on August 31, 2021. The act mandates that federal employers with 10 or more employees have to implement plans that bring their pay to equal levels within three years.” Unfortunately, this act does not include organizations outside the federal jurisdiction. We can only hope that within the next three years it takes to implement any changes, the act is able to at least provide a band-aid solution to the multitude of systematic failures in today’s work environments.
Dr. Janovicek adds that the issue just isn’t a systemic one but also has also to do with perceptions. “There are also a lot of women involved in these conservative groups who have this neo-liberal capitalist idea of how to advance equality and are refusing to recognize their white privilege. For them, equality is just a bigger paycheck and that’s not what this is about. To put this in Rosemary Brown’s words (the first Black Canadian woman to be elected to a Canadian provincial legislature) – ‘Until all of us have made it, none of us have made it.’”
So who’s making history now? First and foremost, most women are still fighting for equal rights day by day. Dr. Janovicek also provides some powerful examples of women like Mumilaaq Qaqqaq and Calgary mayor-elect Jyoti Gondek who are refusing to become part of systems that fail to recognize women’s rights and contributions. Just earlier this week, Jyoti Gondek announced her refusal to participate in the swearing-in ceremony of Councillor Sean Chu after his sexual encounter with a teenager while serving as a Calgary police officer 24 years ago became public.
Unfortunately, the issues discussed here don't even comprise 30% of those faced by women in today’s Canada. From racial profiling and treatment of Indigenous and immigrant women to the recent military sexual misconduct cases – these incidents raise a bigger question about the treatment and attitudes regarding a woman’s place in society. Scientists have already forecasted that COVID-19 won’t be the last pandemic humanity will face and so it becomes increasingly concerning that this one has already overturned the significant strides that were taken for the progress of women’s rights and equality. Thus, the million-dollar question is: will it take another pandemic to recognize the contribution of women in order to address systematic failures in Canada?
(With Inputs from Associate Professor Pear Eliadis, Max Bell School of Public Policy)
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The Bell is edited by Jaclyn Victor, Jason Kreutz, Shweta Menon, and Phaedra de Saint-Rome of the Max Bell School of Public Policy at McGill University.