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NEWSBYTES - June 26, 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/ Welcome, Minister Peterson-Rafuse!
/2/ Will More Women Run in next Federal Election?
/3/ Federal Funds for Women Entrepreneurs Program
/4/ Child Care: Essential to Equality
/5/ Report: “With Our Best Future in Mind”
/6/ Online Consultation on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
/7/ Women in View 2010: Call for Media Artists, Policy Makers, Producers, Researchers
/8/ 2011 Global Feminist Event
/9/ Writers and Readers for Gender Across Borders
/10/ Pedal for the Planet Begins Here in July
/11/ Did You Know?
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/1/ WELCOME, MINISTER PETERSON-RAFUSE!
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Council members and staff welcome the Honourable Denise Peterson-Rafuse, MLA for Chester-St. Margaret's, to our portfolio. Minister Peterson-Rafuse’s portfolios include Community Services, Seniors, Senior Citizens' Secretariat, responsibility for the Advisory Council on the Status of Women Act, and responsibility for the Disabled Persons' Commission Act.
Read more about the Minister at http://women.gov.ns.ca/ .
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/2/ WILL MORE WOMEN RUN IN NEXT FEDERAL ELECTION?
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Equal Voice, a national organization dedicated to electing more women, released poll results recently where 85 per cent of respondents support work to increase the number of women elected to public office. The poll also found 63 per cent believe women are under-represented in the House of Commons.
In the poll, the Liberals had the second-highest level of support (89 per cent) but currently rank third in the number of women in that caucus at 24.6 per cent.
Bloc Quebecois supporters were the third most likely to support more women in politics at 88 per cent; that party comes second on in the proportion of women in that caucus at 31 per cent. The Bloc has made it easier for its MPs with young families through measures such as freeing them from parliamentary duties during March break.
NDP supporters were the most likely to support efforts to elect more women at 93 per cent. The NDP had the highest percentage of women in its caucus: 32.4 per cent.
Conservative supporters were the least likely at 76 per cent to support work to increase the number of women in politics. That party has the lowest percentage of women in its caucus at 16 per cent. The Prime Minister did, however, name many women to cabinet positions.
In the 2009 Canada Challenge, Equal Voice is asking the federal parties to nominate more women to run and to improve their female representation in Parliament. In the 2008 federal election, 28 per cent of all candidates were women, an historic high.
Source: Ottawa Sun -Sun Media, and House of Commons, Jun 18, 2009.
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/3/ FEDERAL FUNDS FOR WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS PROGRAM
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A recent study showed that Canadian women are among the most entrepreneurial of all Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. By involving women in national economic policy, Canada is forging a model for empowering women and building the strength of domestic and global marketplaces.
The recently launched WEConnect Canada (Women's Program of Status of Women Canada), is a non-profit organization that certifies firms that are at least 51 per cent women owned and connects them with the growing corporate and public sector demand for diverse suppliers.
The Government of Canada is funding a WEConnect Canada education program geared to women entrepreneurs. The program is open to all Canadian women entrepreneurs who apply. The funding will stretch over three years, to launch its Opening Doors to Corporate Markets: An Education, Training, Coaching and Mentoring Program.
Learn more: http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/canadexport/articles/90305b.aspx and here:
http://www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/med/news-nouvelles/2009/0618-6-eng.html
Source: Status of Women Canada & Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, June 18, 2009.
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/4/ CHILD CARE: ESSENTIAL TO EQUALITY
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The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives recently released its Spring 2009 issue of Our Schools/Our Selves entitled “Beyond Child’s Play: Caring for and educating young children in Canada.” This report takes a broad, comprehensive view of child care and early childhood education and examines it though different lenses.
For newcomer families, ECEC can provide a "welcome to all children" that enhances the transition to a new country and introduces the family to the new languages and customs of their communities. Inadequate child care is one of the major barriers that immigrant mothers must overcome in order to achieve English proficiency.
Learn more: http://www.policyalternatives.ca/osos/2009/04/ourschoolsourselves2/?pa=A5671525
Source: Child Care & Poverty Reduction, Laurel Rothman in Beyond Child's Play, CCPA, 2009.
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/5/ REPORT: “WITH OUR BEST FUTURE IN MIND”
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Ontario has received a comprehensive report on full-day learning for four- and five-year old children. Dr. Charles Pascal, the government's Early Learning Advisor, delivered his “With Our Best Future In Mind” report with 20 recommendations on how to improve education for children up to age 12.
Quick facts:
1. Studies show that full-day learning can improve reading, writing and math skills, provide a smoother transition to Grade 1 and help increase high school graduation rates.
2. When fully implemented, full-day learning provide more access to child care spaces for children under four.
The report calls for sweeping, collaborative action to place early learning firmly on the public agenda for Ontario and the rest of Canada. It calls attention to the need to build on best practice and embed proven strategies uniformly toward a total transformation of our approach to early learning. The report proposes expanded Best Start Child and Family Centres and introduces early learning programs as the enhanced full-day model for 4- and 5-year-olds.
See the summary: http://www.ontario.ca/en/initiatives/early_learning/ONT06_018876
Source: News Release, June 15, 2009.
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/6/ ONLINE CONSULTATION ON THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
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The Government of Canada invites everyone to participate in the online consultation on the ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Convention). Canada signed the Convention in March 2007 and is required to respect the general object and purpose of the treaty.
This online consultation is fully accessible. The content of the Web site is available in the following alternate formats upon request: Large Print, Braille, Audio Cassette, Audio CD, e-Text Diskette, e-Text CD, and DAISY. The consultation Web site features a simple design to allow easy navigation.
If you would like to participate, submit your views through the Web site or by email, regular mail, fax or phone. All contributions must be received by the Office for Disability Issues by July 31, 2009, midnight, Eastern Daylight Time.
Feel free to link the consultation Web site to your own Web site and to share the link with others who may have an interest in taking part. Consultation Web site: www.hrsdc.gc.ca/consultations .
For questions or for additional information, e-mail consultation@hrsdc-rhdsc.gc.ca or call 819-994-0335 (National Capital Region) 866-203-2426 (toll-free within Canada).
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/7/ WOMEN IN VIEW 2010: CALL FOR MEDIA ARTISTS, POLICY MAKERS, PRODUCERS, RESEARCHERS
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Join a global celebration and dialogue on the art and impact of women in media. Women in View (WIV) 2010 will be a groundbreaking three-day gathering of artists, policy makers, producers and researchers, celebrating women in media.
WIV2010 invites proposals from media scholars, creators, policy-makers and industry leaders for papers, panels or workshops. Topic suggestions include gender-related approaches to ...
Labour, training and career-building
Economics and restructuring of media industries
Issues in youth-directed mass media
New directions in media creativity
Socio-economic barriers to participation in production as audiences
Race, ethnicity, sexualities and representation
Proposals should include a title, names and contact information of all participants, and an outline of 200 to 250 words. Technical requirements must be indicated. The deadline for submissions is October 30, 2009. For more information, visit http://www.womeninview.ca . E-mail submissions to Marsha Newbery, conference coordinator at mna45@sfu.ca .
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/8/ 2011 GLOBAL FEMINIST EVENT
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The launch of http://www.womensworlds.ca – a trilingual website devoted to a 2011 global feminist event – signals the start of a countdown to what will likely be the largest women’s conference in Canada’s history: Women’s Worlds 2011 (WW 2011).
The theme of the gathering is “Inclusions, Exclusions, and Seclusions: Living in a Globalized World” and it will be held in Ottawa-Gatineau, Canada from July 3 to 7, 2011.
In the lead-up to the gathering, the website will serve as a hub where people from around the world can connect and converse on issues related to globalization and women’s equality, and more. This online portal is part of a broader new media strategy that organizers hope will attract unlikely participants to the conference and related discussions, a key conference objective being to encourage intergenerational exchange.
Ottawa-Gatineau plays host to this 11th edition of Women’s Worlds – a triennial global women’s conference most recently held in Madrid in 2008 and Seoul in 2005 – with the University of Ottawa and Carleton University partnering as lead coordinators.
Source: Women’s Worlds 2011, Ottawa 17 June 2009.
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/9/ WRITERS AND READERS FOR GENDER ACROSS BORDERS
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Gender Across Borders blog, GAB, is an international feminist community where issues of gender, race, sexuality, and class are discussed and critically examined. People of all backgrounds are welcome to voice and advance positive gender relations worldwide.
GAB is seeking writers from all over the world to write for the blog. Learn more at: http://genderacrossborders.wordpress.com .
For more information email: atgenderacrossborders@gmail.com .
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/10/ PEDAL FOR THE PLANET BEGINS HERE IN JULY
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This summer, thousands of Canadians will be “taking to the streets” on their bicycles to deliver a clear message to the public and especially to our federal government: Canada must act aggressively on climate change now!
With the United Nations Conference on Climate Change taking place in Copenhagen this December, the KYOTOplus Coalition is sponsoring Pedal for the Planet across Canada from July to September. Starting on July 3, 2009, Canadians from the east and west coasts will travel across the country, province by province, in organized bike ride relays, and then gather as a mass group in Ottawa on the weekend of September 18 to 20.
The “pedal” begins in Nova Scotia on July 13 and ends on July 31. It is intended to send a message to the federal government that Canadians expect real leadership and serious reductions when the Copenhagen climate treaty is negotiated in December. Come out and pedal part of the journey or help organize bike riders and community events in conjunction with Pedal for the Planet.
Please see http://www.kyotoplus.ca/ for details or email: ayeshaa@volunteer.oxfam.ca or call the Maritimes Oxfam Canada office at 902-425-7877.
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/11/ DID YOU KNOW?
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The UN Human Rights Council Adopted a Resolution Recognizing Maternal Mortality as a Pressing Human Rights Concern? The U.N. Human Rights Council adopted a "landmark resolution" acknowledging that "preventable maternal mortality and morbidity" is a human rights issue and that national and international efforts to protect women worldwide should be scaled up.
Over 70 UN member states co-sponsored this resolution, led by Colombia and New Zealand.
Source: United Nations office in Geneva: http://www.unog.ch/80256EDD006B9C2E/(httpNewsByYear_en)/10DF03F4ED78BD52C12575D8004D5215?OpenDocument .
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NEXT ISSUE – July 10, 2009
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