status of women cuts update

Read the Evidence from proceedings of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women (February 7, 2007). This is the third panel convened to determine what the impact will be from the $5 million cut to Status of Women, including the elimation of 12 regional SWC offices. How will the removal of funding for advocacy, as well as equality as a goal of the agency, effect women and women's organizations in Canada.
It's a good read. It cleared up some finer points of the policy change for me, and it also provided some heated and jolting discussion once REAL Women (yeah right) spokeperson Gwendolyn Landolt so clearly and unabashedly outlined her hardlined right-wing ideas on "what women want".

Highlights of the REAL vs. reality debate:

MP Irene Mathyssen: I wonder, do you think that equal pay for work of equal value is a laudable goal?

Ms. Gwendolyn Landolt: No, it's a feminist concept. We do not agree with that.

Mrs. Irene Mathyssen: You talked about professionals in Canada, women having reached professional status. Were you aware that even in female-dominated professions in Canada, women still make less on average than their male counterparts?

Ms. Gwendolyn Landolt: Yes. And do you know why that is? Because women work differently from men. We have a different work schedule.... the vast majority of women are still going into the other fields of teaching, service industry, and nursing because it suits them because of family commitments. That's what women prefer. Most of the part-time workers are women, because it's what they want.

In a discussion of LEAF - Women's Legal Education and Action Fund:
Ms. Gwendolyn Landolt: Well, first of all, a lot of what LEAF has done--for example, the rape shield law--we don't agree with.

Hon. Maria Minna: You and I can argue all day about whether or not we agree with the rape shield and all of the other things that were accomplished by LEAF, a great deal of it not through the women's program but actually through the court challenges program [which has been eliminated], and thousands of volunteer hours from the lawyers themselves. But my question to you was what you do for immigrant women who cannot access programs. You say we should not have advocacy. . Providing services and assisting immigrant women with, say, the English program or project isn't enough. Equality is not attained by simply giving a service. You also need to change the system.


In Landolt's opening statement she says:
"We [REAL] reflect what women in Canada want... Times have changed. We have to move into the 21st century. We have to deal with what women want. We have to listen to women- but women are not all feminists. It's deeply troubling that the government is putting out $11 million each year to a variety of feminists to promote an agenda that is not a reflection of what Canadian women want or need. " (She clearly knows what women in Canada want and need, and is speaking for them at this panel).

In her closing statement she says:
"On September 21, MP Mrs. Minna got up in the House of Commons, addressed the government, and said, 'On behalf of all the women of Canada, I'd like to ask about the funding.' Who gave her the choice to speak for all of us?"

Who are you Ms. Landolt?

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OTHER feminist happenings concerning the cuts to SWC:

New website - Put Equality Back on Track

Excellent blog and resource concerning the cuts and actions: F-email Fightback.
Go here to see some radical cheerleading, and dowload a postcard for Harper created by the New Brunswick Advisory Council.