Taking stock of progress during Gender Equality Week
Credit to Author: Ramya Ramanathan| Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2019 22:35:37 +0000
Canada celebrates Gender Equality Week from September 23 to 27, 2019. The theme for Gender Equality Week is Gender equality benefits everyone: #EveryoneBenefits, and is inspired by the vision of a gender equal society and the benefits of advancing gender equality to women, men and people of all gender identities.
This week is an opportunity for people from coast to coast to look at the various initiatives in place and consider the progress we’ve made in advancing gender equality in Canada, while reflecting on the work that remains to make sure that everyone – regardless of their gender – can reach their full potential.
Marking last year’s inaugural Gender Equality Week, Maryam Monsef, Minister of Status of Women said that: “Like Canadians, our government believes that everybody deserves an equal and fair chance at success. Together, we are making tremendous progress on advancing gender equality – progress worth celebrating and, more importantly, progress we are committed to building on in the months and years to come. We still have much more work ahead, but if we all do our part, we will create a more equitable and prosperous Canada for everyone.”
Programming for newcomer and immigrant women
There is indeed much work ahead in creating an equitable society – even more so when it comes to immigrant women. Statistics have shown that immigrant women in Canada earn less and often face more employment challenges. In addition, visible minority newcomer women are more likely to be unemployed and have the lowest median annual income of all newcomer groups.
Canadian Immigrant reached out to few leaders working with immigrant and newcomer women for their thoughts during Gender Equality Week.
Beba Svigir, CEO of Calgary Immigrant Women’s Association (CIWA), says that the federal government officially identifying women as one of the funding priorities for the IRCC 2020-25 funding term “is a huge step towards achieving successful integration of immigrant women into Canadian society based on their unique needs and challenges.” CIWA is a settlement agency focusing on the unique concerns and needs of immigrant and refugee women, girls and their families.
She adds that: “…gender equality remains a huge issue for Canada. A condition of gender equality anywhere in the world is gender pay equity. This is particularly obvious for immigrant women. Throughout Canada, there are hundreds of agencies supporting newcomers’ settlement, integration, academic upgrading, language, literacy and family needs. Majority of staff in those agencies are women, and very frequently immigrant women. The government should set an example of equitable funding for those agencies, so that predominantly female workplaces in the not for profit agencies across Canada build careers for women where they can thrive and achieve their goals and dreams.”
Gurpreet Malhotra, CEO of Indus Community Services, a GTA-based nonprofit providing services to newcomers, families, women and seniors, says” “We firmly believe that all levels of government should support innovative programs to generate positive economic activity while building social capital among newcomer women.”
He shares that Indus is pleased to celebrate Gender Equality Week through a meaningful program that recognizes the amazing resilience of Newcomer Women. “At Indus Community Services we have long recognized that Newcomer women are an essential component of any successful community or economic activity. For the past year and a half the Federal Government has supported Indus to deliver the SEW: Social Enterprise for Women program. This program rotates between our Mississauga, Brampton and Oakville locations and teaches women several important and integrated skills. The program has been very well received in the communities it has run in.. ”
Earlier this year, recognizing challenges faced by visible minority newcomer women, the government decided to fund projects of 22 organizations from across the country that understand visible minority newcomer women, the barriers they face, and their circumstances.