Women in Canada Need a Full Minister of Women's Equality!
We need a full Minister of Women’s Equality. Many political players and certainly lots of women in Ottawa agree. It appears that the Prime Minister is not convinced. Help us convince him!Dear Women:
Paul Martin may shuffle the Cabinet very soon. There are rumours that he may go back to the old system of having a Minister of State for Women, something women were poorly served by during the nine years when this system was in place (1995 – 2004). Appointing a Minister of State would be a clear demotion for women who now have the Honourable Lisa Frulla , Minister of Heritage and Minister Responsible for Status of Women.
The Parliamentary Committee on Status of Women has been doing excellent work and has issued four reports with important recommendations on pay equity, core funding for women's groups and dramatically improving Canada's approach to gender-based analysis. You can read their reports at http://www.parl.gc.ca/committee/CommitteeList.aspx?Lang=1&PARLSES=381&JNT=0&SELID=e24_&COM=8997).
We need a full Minister of Women's Equality to make sure that these recommendations are implemented. Many political players and certainly lots of women in Ottawa agree. It appears that the Prime Minister is not convinced. Help us convince him!
The Coalition for Women's Equality sent Paul Martin this letter a few days ago! Web-based Version: www.canadaelection.net/cwe-pmo.html
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WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP CONVINCE PAUL MARTIN:
IMMEDIATELY:
Contact the Prime Minister’s Office at:
tmurphy@pmo.gc.ca or write or fax the Prime Minister’s office at:
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa
K1A 0A2
Fax: 613-941-6900
Tell him:
1. You want the recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee on Status of Women implemented.
2. You want him to appoint a full Minister of Women's equality in the next Cabinet Shuffle to appropriately deal with the complex and cross cutting issues of women's equality.
Spread the Word
Please pass this appeal on to other women’s groups as quickly as you can. The shuffle could come as quickly as next week (before Canada Day), so the more letters to the Prime Minister's Office now, the better.
A demotion for women's equality is a Canada Day present women will not welcome.
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CONTEXT
Brief to the Prime Minister’s Office
Prepared by the Coalition for Women’s Equality
June 23, 2005
After years in a virtual equality desert, the present Parliament has a well-functioning Parliamentary Committee on the Status of Women due to the hard work of women in all parties and engagement by a broad cross section of women and women's organizations throughout the country. This Committee, under the excellent chairing of Anita Neville, has worked tirelessly to gain back lost ground in relation to the serious concerns of women around the country.
The committee has produced four excellent and focused reports - all of which contain substantive recommendations. However, the current governmental mechanisms in place will likely limit the chances that these recommendations will materialize into meaningful results. Due to the multi-faceted nature of women's realities, and the way that these realities cut across virtually every federal department and agency, women in Canada require a full and dedicated Ministry to deliver on the Committee's recommendations and the government’s equality commitments.
The present Minister, the Honorable Liza Frulla, who is charged with the responsibility for Status of Women, has been given the extremely difficult task of juggling the demands of two very challenging portfolios. Women's organizations have built an excellent rapport with the Minister in spite of her demanding schedule, and are pleased with her engagement and initiative, despite difficult circumstances. However, the juggling required in order to manage two portfolios of tremendous significance to Canadians can not do justice to the issues regarding the equality and human rights of women in Canada.
At this juncture, women's equality seeking groups believe it is necessary to exclusively dedicate a senior Minister to the portfolio of the Status of Women. This would ensure that the Minister responsible for this portfolio would have: 1/sufficient time and energy for this demanding and cross-cutting portfolio; 2/a full seat at the cabinet table; 3/the capacity to command adequate resources for the portfolio; and 4/the ability to speak at the highest levels on women's equality issues. We call on the Prime Minister to demonstrate continued leadership on issues of equality by dedicating a full Minister to the exclusive portfolio of Women's Equality in the upcoming shuffle.
In the face of a potential cabinet shuffle, women in Canada will not be satisfied with the relegation of their issues to a junior Minister portfolio. Previous to the election of this government, women's organizations had nine years of experience with a succession of Secretaries and Ministers of State who were not senior enough to command the resources and political will necessary to keep women's equality on the agenda. During this time, Canada eliminated the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women and was reprimanded by three United Nations Committees that oversee Canada's compliance with its international human rights commitments under the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR).
While there is a common misperception by some that women's equality has been 'solved', most women in Canada, whether they are active in women's organizations or not, know that recent governments have not served their interests well, and they are waiting to see if the Paul Martin government will be different. Women from coast to coast to coast in this country are watching the activity of the Parliamentary Committee on the Status of Women very closely, and they expect government to actualize the work of the Committee after months of extensive consultations. Many women have recently begun to feel hopeful about the engagement of the Paul Martin government on women's equality issues.
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CLARIFICATION OF TERMS
Minister/Secretary of State
A junior Cabinet position; what the federal government established in the mid-1990s until last year; Hedy Fry and Jean Augustine were both Secretaries of State; when Paul Martin became Prime Minister, he raised the prominence of some Secretaries of State by calling them Ministers of State, but little changed in terms of the influence that Ministers of State could wield; still a junior position
Minister responsible for the Status of Women
A minister responsible is someone who typically already has a senior cabinet position, but who assumes additional responsibility for another portfolio; in July 2004, Liza Frulla, who already had a senior Cabinet position (first as Minister for Social Development, and then as Minister of Heritage) became additionally responsible for the Status of Women; Ministers responsible tend to have a primary portfolio that takes up the bulk of their energy and resources
Minister of Status of Women (or Women's Equality)
This is what we are calling for; a free-standing senior cabinet Minister who would be exclusively responsible for Status of Women issues; this would be someone who would not have to split their time between two demanding portfolios, or be relegated to a junior cabinet position
What would the difference be between a Minister of State and Minister of Status of Women?
Our concerns are rooted in the fact that Secretaries or Ministers of State are junior cabinet players, and can not wield the same influence in terms of access to cabinet or resources that a senior cabinet Minister can. A junior Minister of status of women/women's equality would not enjoy the same access to their senior cabinet colleagues, something which is critical given the cross-cutting nature of women's equality issues.
As an example, when the Parliamentary Committee on the Status of Women did its study on the implementation of gender-based analysis within the federal government this past Spring (an initiative in response to the Beijing Platform for Action), it found that a distinct lack of leadership at the senior levels of government hampered the effectiveness of this broad public policy initiative (begun in 1995). The Committee made a series of sweeping recommendations, including the establishment of equality legislation. We believe that the establishment of a senior Minister who is exclusively responsible for Status of Women is also necessary in order to give these recommendations life in the immediate future.
Further, the realities of women's lives cross cut across all cabinet portfolios. We need someone at the senior cabinet table who can hold other departments and agencies accountable for their actions regarding women's equality. A junior Minister can do not do this.
Previous experience with junior Ministers between the mid- 1990's and 2004, including Hedy Fry ad Jean Augustine, has demonstrated how difficult it was for these women as Secretaries/Ministers of State to set the agenda for decisive and meaningful action on women's equality. In fact, the 1990's were a time when women lost both the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women, and core funding for equality-seeking women's groups (through Status of Women Canada's Women's Program).
Women will not accept a step backward at this time
After the June election in 2004, Paul Martin recognized the importance of elevating women's equality considerations by assigning a senior Minister responsibility for women's equality, and, with all party consent, establishing the Parliamentary Committee on the Status of Women. While we recognize the limitations of having one senior Minister deal with two demanding portfolios (Canadian Heritage and Status of Women), this is by far preferable to the appointment of a junior Minister for status of women.
After ten years of going backwards, the establishment of a Parliamentary Committee on the Status of Women, and the appointment of a senior Minister to the Status of Women constitute steps towards real progress. At this juncture, however, we believe that the federal government should assign the status of women portfolio to a senior Minister who would be exclusively dedicated to this issue. This would ensure that the good work of women Members of Parliament, and the recommendations of the Committee, would receive the full attention of the Minister in charge. Many women from within the Liberal party, and other parties in Parliament, are advocating for this.
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For more information, please contact:
Bonnie Diamond, Executive Director of the National Association of Women and the Law at 613-241-7570 / bdiamond@nawl.ca, or
Nancy Peckford and/or Charlotte Thibault, of the Canadian Feminist Alliance at npeckford@fafia-afai.org / 613-232-9505 or charlotte.thibault@videotron.ca / 514-849-6957.
The Coalition for Women's Equality - Coalition pour l'égalité des femmes (CWE-CEF) is comprised of representatives from NAWL, FAFIA, Womenspace, NWAC, CRIAW, MediaWatch, YWCA, FFQ, NAC, NOIVMWC.
