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NEWSBYTES - May 29, 2009
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The Advisory Council on the Status of Women is the provincial government agency that promotes equality, fairness and dignity for women, by bringing forward concerns and advising the Minister Responsible for the Status of Women Act. Through research, policy, education, and partnerships, the council works to ensure women have an equal voice in society, fair pay and pensions, freedom from violence, and good health and well-being.
Newsbytes is a free bi-weekly e-mail newsletter with links to stories and contacts.
You can also read the newsletter and about coming events at the Advisory Council's website: <http://www.women.gov.ns.ca >.
Also, visit our online catalogue at <http://women.gov.ns.ca/library.asp> or come visit our library!
CONTENTS AT A GLANCE
/1/ Women Awake! During Sexual Assault Awareness Month
/2/ Reminder: Until the Violence Stops Festival
/3/ Film and Discussion at Tri-County Women’s Centre
/4/ Taking Care of Business
/5/ Restructuring Gender Agencies at the United Nations
/6/ Residents of Canada's Shelters for Abused Women
/7/ Employment among Persons with Disabilities
/8/ Call for Submissions: Art Calendar
/9/ Participate in Peer Support Project
/10/ Black History Textbook Launched
/11/ Women in Science Booklet
/12/ Get Recognized! Nominate Your Business
/13/ Did You Know?
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/1/ WOMEN AWAKE! DURING SEXUAL ASSAULT AWARENESS MONTH
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Only women are invited to attend the Women Awake! event on May 30, where survivors and artists will share stories, poems, songs, dance and performances expressing experiences, strength, and vision for ending the suffering of sexual assault. Contributing artists include Lee Park, Pascale Roger, Katie Sullivan and other exciting guests.
You'll also have a chance to learn about Avalon Centre and how to turn the tide away from sexist violence toward a safe community that values and empowers women. Followed by a Dance Party with woman-positive music! This is a no-charge event. (Donations accepted to help cover costs.)
Visit our website for more details http://women.gov.ns.ca/calendar.asp .
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/2/ REMINDER: UNTIL THE VIOLENCE STOPS FESTIVAL
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Take part in "Make Halifax the Safest Place on Earth for Women and Girls," presented by the V-Day Halifax Community Campaign. This is the first time the Until the Violence Stops Festival has ever occurred outside of the United States.
The festival runs from June 1 to 14 and begins with a flag-raising at Parade Square at noon, followed by an art show featuring the works of women and children affected by violence at Province House at 1 p.m. Events include showings of plays and films, such as “Necessary Targets,” “Anyone of Us: Words from Prison,” The Vagina Monologues,” and “Until the Violence Stops.”
Visit our website for more details http://women.gov.ns.ca/calendar.asp .
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/3/ FILM AND DISCUSSION AT TRI-COUNTY WOMEN’S CENTRE
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Using parts of the documentary “Generation M (Misogyny),” the Women's Centre will host a discussion on hypersexualized portrayals of girls and women on Tuesday, June 2 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at 238 Main Street, Yarmouth.
"How our femininity gets defined and how hateful attitudes toward women get constructed through the media, impacts women and girls' status and safety," explains Kirsta Morris, project coordinator at the centre. "We need to confront the dangerous real-life consequences of this form of misogyny (women-hating). The devaluing of more than half the population based on gender is not acceptable and together we can do something about it.”
For more information, contact the centre at 902-742-0085. Everyone is welcome.
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/4/ TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS
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Advisory Council staff spoke to business women in Sydney, St. Peter's and Ingonish, thanks to an invitation from the Cape Breton Business Partnership's Women in Business luncheons.
Brigitte Neumann, Council’s executive director, asked her audience, “What do effective leaders do during crises, when chaos has broken out? They create order.”
Council staff are available to present the Women in the Lead: Taking Care of Business sessions to groups across the province. Contact Brigitte at 424-8664 or at neumannb@gov.ns.ca
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/5/ RESTRUCTURING GENDER AGENCIES AT THE UNITED NATIONS
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This report outlines funding, governance structure, and staffing issues for four options for organizing women’s agencies at the United Nations: "Institutional Options for Strengthening the Institutional Arrangements for Support to Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women". The new entity would unite four women-specific agencies within the UN – the Development Fund for Women, the Office of the Special Advisor on Gender Issues, the Division for the Advancement of Women, and the International Research and Training Institute for Women.
See the report at: http://www.un.org/ga/president/63/letters/swcgenderequality.pdf .
More than 300 organizations have become part of the global GEAR campaign. It supports the creation of a composite entity that would be led by an Under-Secretary General at the UN, be "ambitiously funded," and would include meaningful participation of civil society. The organizers convened workshops and strategy sessions and launched a petition. Visit http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/GEAR .
To keep current on progress on the gender architecture reform process and to access information from the GEAR site, contactgearcampaign@gmail.com .
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/6/ RESIDENTS OF CANADA'S SHELTERS FOR ABUSED WOMEN
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The May 2009 issue of the Statistics Canada publication "Juristat” features an article entitled "Residents of Canada's shelters for abused women, 2008". The publication presents new data about abused women who turned to women's shelters for support in 2008. Among the factors discussed are:
• the types of shelters they used
• their reasons for going
• whether or not their children were with them
• what their plans were when they left the shelter.
The research notes that some 22 per cent of women in shelters are experiencing mental health problems – one of the reasons that some women cannot be served there.
Source: Statistics Canada, May 2009:
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/bsolc/olc-cel/olc-cel?catno=85-002-X200900210845&lang=eng .
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/7/ EMPLOYMENT AMONG PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
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Statistics Canada compares labour market participation of people with and without a disability using the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) during a six-year observation period. SLID provides the years that people report limitations and how that affects their labour force participation as those years with limitations increase. It is also possible to examine labour force participation during years of disability and years without disability. And because persons with a disability are more likely to have low employment income (Chung 2004), the report also examines earnings and social benefits.
Read more: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/75-001-x/2009105/article/10865-eng.htm .
Source: Statistics Canada, May 26, 2009.
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/8/ CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: ART CALENDAR
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The Department of Health – Mental Health Branch is seeking visual art from Nova Scotia youth up to 25 years old who have or are experiencing a mental illness. Artwork will go into a calendar to be published by the Department of Health to raise awareness about mental illnesses. The submission deadline is midnight on May 29, 2009.
For more information visit: www.gov.ns.ca/health/mhs .
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/9/ PARTICIPATE IN PEER SUPPORT PROJECT
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The Mental Health Commission of Canada is funding a new project to document the state of peer support activities in the mental health system – in order to propose legislative, policy, funding, and evaluative strategies that will strengthen peer support capacity, including peer-directed initiatives, in Canada.
If you are interested, provide the name of your initiative, what it is, what it does, location and any other information to Andy Cox at andy.cox@iwk.nshealth.ca, Or call 902-470-7302. You could be part of a focus group in July.
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/10/ BLACK HISTORY TEXTBOOK LAUNCHED
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Students in African Canadian Studies 11 have a new textbook that illustrates and honours the history of African Canadians. “Black History: Africa, The Caribbean, and The Americas” was introduced recently to teachers at an in-service in Dartmouth. It includes several historic figures and defining moments from Nova Scotia's past.
Source: NS Department of Education, May 22, 2009.
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/11/ WOMEN IN SCIENCE BOOKLET
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A new booklet created by Science in Partnership , with support from UNESCO and the L'Oréal Corporate Foundation, is a collection of inspiring stories from women with a passion for science. Young women at the start of their careers tell about their passion and persistence and what drives and excites them about their work in the sciences. The hope is that young girls (and boys), and their educators will find inspiration in these pages and learn a little about what life as a scientist is all about.
Learn more: http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/lorealwis .
Source: Science/AAAS, 2009.
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/12/ GET RECOGNIZED! NOMINATE YOUR BUSINESS
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Women with their own businesses are encouraged to file applications for the Healthy Business Awards. The awards recognize businesses that demonstrate leadership and commitment to workplace health. Businesses are not competing with one another but against the Healthy Business criteria. Recipients will be honoured at a ceremony on October 14, 2009.
The deadline for applications is August 28, 2009 – so you have most of the summer to work on your application! For more information, check out the awards criteria at
http://www.halifaxchamber.com/images/Events/Healthy-Business-Awards-Criteria-2009.pdf , the guidelines at
http://www.halifaxchamber.com/images/Events/Healthy-Business-Awards-Guidelines-2009.pdf
Or contact Catherine Young at catherine@halifaxchamber.com .
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/13/ DID YOU KNOW ...
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That you can have a daily dose of women's health news from “Our Bodies, Our Blog”? It’s produced by Our Bodies Ourselves, the Boston Women's Health Book Collective, a nonprofit, public interest women's health education, advocacy, and consulting organization.
Here’s the link: http://www.ourbodiesourblog.org/ .
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NEXT ISSUE – June 12, 2009
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