Report highlights decrease in support for women's issues
under Harper
April 6, 2011
A recent report coordinated by the Canadian
Labour Congress and Canadian Feminist Alliance for
International Action (FAFIA) highlights the sharp decrease
in support for women’s issues under the Harper government.
Under the Harper Government, there has been
a sharp decrease in institutional and political support in
the area of human rights. In particular, protections in
place for women and girls have been eroded. A recent report
coordinated by the Canadian Labour Congress and Canadian
Feminist Alliance for International Action (FAFIA)
highlights these policy shifts and their impact on women.
Examples of the policy shifts include:
-
The elimination of the phrase
"gender equality" from the mandate of Canada’s primary
institution responsible for gender equality in Canada:
Status of Women;
-
The closing of twelve of the sixteen
Status of Women offices, on the principles that women’s and
men’s issues do not need to be separated;
-
The reallocation of funding from
organizations that support advocacy for women’s human rights
to organizations that provide front-line services only;
-
The elimination of funding to the
court challenges program, a program created to provide
assistance to court cases related to equality rights
guaranteed under Canada’s constitution;
-
The elimination in 2006 of the
funding agreements that had been negotiated with provinces
and territories to provide five billion dollars for
childcare and early learning programs; and
-
The decrease in levels of financial
and human resources specifically committed to
gender-equality projects in the Canadian International
Development Agency and the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The findings of this report show that Canada
is falling behind. Once ranked 7th in the world for closing
the gap between women and men, Canada is now ranked 73rd.
To read the full report, go to:
www.fafia-afai.org/en/resources/reality-check-women-canada-and-beijing-declaration-and-platform-action-fifteen-years-later
