Two recent studies carried out in Ontario schools, one conducted by Toronto’s School Community Safety Advisory Panel and the other by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), found that sexual harassment and sexual assault of girls are occurring at alarming rates.The Panel stressed that the problem requires immediate attention.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing finished his visit to Canada on October 22nd, with a press conference in Ottawa, where he released his preliminary report. His reports flags many serious concerns on the state of adequate housing in Canada, with particular attention paid to women and single mothers who are disproportionally affected by the issue of affordability or discrimination. A number of important recommendations are proposed.

Miloon Kothari, the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, is currently undertaking an official visit to Canada, including stops in Ottawa, Montreal, Edmonton, Vancouver, Toronto, Lubicon and Kahnawake.

The United Nations Non-governmental Liaison Service (NGLS), in collaboration with the Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL), the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), and the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), organized a parallel event entitled “United Nations Reform: How to Strengthen Gender Architecture?” during the fifty-first session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).

To date, there has been widespread support for strengthening the United Nations Gender Equality Architecture (GEA), as recommended in the report of the Coherence Panel, including from the new Secretary General and the president of the General Assembly. This is not the case for the entire report, called “Delivering as One.” Yet, many member states are urging that the Panel report be considered as a whole, meaning that all of its recommendations be taken together. The result is that discussions about all the Panel’s recommendations have been stalled since governments have differing opinions about each section. Therefore, women’s groups are calling for the separation of the Gender Equality section as a separate issue that can be negotiated now, regardless of what happens with the other components of the report. It is crucial that this be done in order for action to be taken on the GEA before this session of the GA ends in August of 2007.

In June 2007, the Committee’s report, Improving the Economic Security of Women: Time to Act, was released. The report is divided into five main chapters, and offers recommendations which the Committee believes will better the economic realities of women. The report shows that there have been ‘improvements for low-income women in Canada in recent years,’ however also points out that there continues to be significant challenges in addressing the gender differences in low income rates among women.

Campaign 2000 recently released its report A Poverty Reduction Strategy for Ontario. This report calls on all Ontario political parties to commit to a “Poverty Reduction Strategy for Ontario” as they finalize their party platforms for the October election. Campaign 2000 urges all party leaders to commit to a comprehensive Poverty Reduction Strategy for Ontario with a target to reduce the number of children and families living in poverty by 25% within 5 years, and 50% in 10 years.

In July 2007, with support from the Heinrich Boll Foundation, Gender Action, along with the Center for International Environmental Law released Gender Justice: A Citizen’s Guide to International Financial Accountability at International Financial Institutions. This first Guide comparing IFI gender policies and accountability mechanisms provides tools for women and men harmed by gender discrimination in IFI investments to use these mechanisms to seek redress.

Social Watch is an international network informed by national citizens’ groups which monitors the fulfilment of internationally agreed commitments on poverty eradication and equality. These national groups document- through the Social Watch report process- the progress and/or regression regarding these commitments and goals.

In 2007, Social Watch released its Gender Equity Index (GEI). Rwanda, one of the world’s least developed countries, ranks third on the list of GEI scores, after Sweden and Finland, thanks to intensive affirmative action efforts. In the meantime, a number of high-income countries rank far down on the list.

This index clearly demonstrates that a country’s respective level of wealth does not automatically determine the degree to which it has attained equity or equality. The evolution of the GEI between 2004 and 2007 reveals a few global advances, but the general trend seen throughout the world is either very slow progress or no progress at all. The United States, a high-income country, is one of ten countries that have experienced the greatest regression. Obviously, the key to gender equity lies not in a country’s economic power, but rather in its government’s political will to use that economic power.

In September 2006, the World Bank released its Gender Action Plan (GAP) entitled Gender Equality as Smart Economics, which covers the 2007-2010 time frame.

The Action Plan seeks to advance women’s economic empowerment in order to promote shared growth, gender equality and women’s empowerment. The World Bank claims this will not only benefit women, but society as a whole. According to the GAP report, “the business case for expanding women’s economic opportunities is becoming increasingly evident; this is nothing more than smart economics.”

“Step it Up!” is our message from women to the Province of Ontario. We want better, faster government action to end violence against women.