Put Equality Back on Track

International Women's Day Was March 8.

Women across Canada marked International Women's Day 2007 on March 8 in a number of ways for a number of reasons. It was a time to celebrate women's past victories, and to recommit our energies and to fight for change.

International Women's Day was particularly important this year. Women across Canada are responding to a series of bad decisions by the Harper government which, if not reversed, will set women's equality back 20 years. The Harper government began with the cancellation of the federal provincial child care agreements - at a time when 70 per cent of women with children under the age of five are working.

They moved on to totally eliminate funding to the Court Challenges Program which was the major base of support for those fighting to ensure their equality rights under the Charter. And they announced that they will not implement the recommendation of the federal Pay Equity Task Force to introduce a proactive pay equity law. Instead, they say they will educate people about pay equity and instruct labour inspectors to investigate workplaces to make sure equal pay practices are followed - something that was tried 30 years ago and failed.

Then Harper's Conservatives cut funding to Status of Women Canada, the federal department responsible for advancing women's equality, by $5 million or 40 per cent of the budget. They are closing 12 of 16 regional Status of Women offices and cutting 61 of 131 jobs.

They also eliminated Status of Women's independent policy research fund which has provided a useful resource to government and women's groups for years. And, they then eliminated "equality" from the mandate of Status of Women Canada. They also changed the rules so that women's groups which do research or advocate for equality are no longer eligible for federal financial support.

The federal opposition parties have all declared their support for women's equality and their opposition to the anti-equality measures introduced by the Harper government. In fact, they have rallied together to support a progressive bill which would clearly make the provision of child care a national concern. And provincial and territorial Ministers for the Status of Women are meeting without the federal Minister because they are so concerned at the implications for women's equality in their regions.