Keeping It Real - Womens' Coalition

You may be wondering why these people in the picture to the left are so happy. These women have launched a progressive coaltion  focussed on creating an overaching mechanism  to report regularly and in a comprehensive way,  on the progress of women in all the areas where they remain unequal or at a disadvantge. It is yet another example of Hamiltonians taking positive action to make a positive difference.

I am very pleased to have Catherine Pead, CEO of the YWCA  and Ines Rio, Executive Director of The Immigrant Women Centre as my guests on The Hamiltonian. Comments welcome.

1. As I understand it, you are proposing the formation of a coalition which would focus on capturing areas where women are remain unequal or at a disadvantage. Can you tell us about the genesis of the idea, who is involved and what you hope to accomplish?
Ines Rios, Executive Director of The Immigrant Women Centre read an article that Cathie Pead wrote in the Spectator about the federal budget and its benefit or lack thereof for women. Ines and Cathie met and from there the idea was born to see if we could bring other women's groups together to track women's progress on all fronts and get a complete picture of what is happening for women in Hamilton. This initiative, which we called a coalition for want of a better word, is a feasibility study to determine if we can create a collaborative, sustainable mechanism to track and report on key indicators of women's equality. It is very important for people to understand that this initiative does not replace or duplicate the work that women’s organizations are already doing. It recognizes rather that there is another level of synthesis of information that is required- all the women's groups and initiatives are gathering key  information on different aspects of the lives of women like health, violence, employment statistics and so on. However, while this information is detailed, it can be registered within the groups and organizations that collected it,. There is a need to pull together the information and to track it so we can see the whole picture, the trends - improvements and deterioration - in women's position over time.

2. Can you provide example of some of the areas in which women are unequal or otherwise disadvantaged?

The most obvious ones are economic: women still earn about 70 cents for every dollar men earn; women experience poverty at higher rates than men; and women in all sub-categories (age, race, ethnicity, ability- are consistently below men.) Safety is another area: women are 4 times more likely to be victims of violence than men. 1 woman in 4 has experienced sexual violence compared to 1 in 6 men. And in the area of burden of care, even though men have made some strides to assume more responsibility for children, elders, sick and disabled family members, the data is still showing that women carry the major share of care - while in many cases now also holding down full time jobs- and often as single mothers. The other obvious one is women in leadership. Look at elected office for example; here in Hamilton 2 women out of 16 city councillors; 2 MPPs and 1 MP for our area.

3. What approach will the coalition be using to consolidate this information and make it useful?

Through this initiative we will ask women's organizations and key stakeholders what they think should be measured, what method they would suggest- looking for simple cost-effective and reliable ways to collect and collate information. We will also ask if they know of successful models elsewhere and if/how they could contribute vital data to the project on an ongoing basis. We want them to tell us what will be useful-both in terms of indicators to measure and the ways to present it. We will also research what is happening in other places so we can benefit from the learnings elsewhere.

4. How can Hamiltonians help?

There are so many great women's groups and organizations: there is the Status of Women Committee of Council, groups such as Zonta and Soroptimists and Junior League, there are women's shelters and women's centres, academics and professionals -all with a piece of the puzzle to contribute.  We hope that each of these and anyone else who has a piece of the puzzle, will commit to participate in rendering a picture of what is happening for women in Hamilton.

5. How can our municipal politicians or community leaders help this cause?

They can give input to the questions; they can advocate for the use of a gender lens on decisions: some jurisdictions such as Australia are required to pass their budgets through a gender filter- to assess their impact on women.

6. How does the efforts of collation relate to Elect More Women?

Elect More Women is one of those great initiatives by women to advance the cause on the elected office front. If they could provide the story on elected politics that would be a great contribution. Also, through their work, they could probably provide more in-depth information such as nominations of female candidates, allocation of resources to female candidates, etc. Again, as the experts on women in elected politics, they can tell us what we should be measuring.

7. What would success look like?

A clear picture - year over year- of what is happening for women in our city –good and bad. This “report card” shows where things are getting better and where they are stagnant or going backwards. Once people have this information, it is up to them to choose what they think is an appropriate response. This initiative is not trying to tell anyone what to do- we just want them to have accurate information. Too many people think equality has been won- and that is just not the case.

8. It appears probable that you will receive a great deal of support from women in our communities. What is your message to men. Why would it also be in their interests to be supportive of the coalition’s work?

Men are not served in the long run by inequality. Losing women's brains, creativity, work and productivity impoverishes everyone ultimately. We would say to men- it is in your interests also because you have or will have sisters, daughters, nieces, granddaughters- and you want what's right for them. And you may need the women in your life to support you in your old age!

 9. Do you believe that women of colour, aboriginal women, women in poverty and women living with a disability, experience inequities disproportionately? To the extent that you do, is there the need for a targeted approach?

As we said above, women are disadvantaged in all groups: there is no question that women of colour, aboriginal women, newcomer women and disabled women, lesbian and transgender women experience additional barriers. What is common to all is that they are women. That is the common barrier. It will be very important for the initiative to report on progress in all categories otherwise again we will not have a true picture- if we just blend the data together, it could be misleading. What we are aiming for is a clear picture- not an artificially uniform one.  

10 What is your message to women who are struggling or to women who have thought about getting more involved in efforts like this, but have yet to do so?

To the first group, we would say you are not alone. And there are women's groups across the city that you can turn to for support and encouragement as well as concrete help. One of the outcomes of the project will be a comprehensive listing of women's organizations, groups and services. To the second group, we would say "Sisterhood is Powerful" -so find a way to make your contribution, even if it is just telling your story. Watch for more by going to the YWCA Hamilton or Immigrant Women Centre’s website- we will have a special page there for the initiative.

11 How does the Coalition’s focus align with Hamilton’s aspirations to be “The Best Place to Raise a Child” ?

Children don't raise themselves. Behind every poor child, is a poor mother. Research shows that when you invest directly in women, the standard of living for everyone goes up measurably and almost immediately! For more information read Stephen Lewis' Race Against Time- particularly the chapter on gender equity and why it is a critical Millennium Development Goal.

Thank-you Catherine and Ines for being our guests and to your team , as well. Thank-you for your interest in Hamilton and for your contribution to The Hamiltionian.