Tuesday, February 26, 2008
The Economic Security of Women: UN Focus for 52nd Meeting on Women's Status
ACTEW contributed expertise to a Canadian delegation for the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women currently underway in New York City. The topic of this year's meeting is the economic success and the security of women.
Eight delegates were hosted by FAFIA and funded by Status of Women Canada to attend. They will return to their agencies across Canada to engage in community development projects inspired by UNCSW events.
As ACTEW's representative, Paula Wansbrough participated in the pre-sessional training seminar for the delegates on Feb. 23, speaking about national employment and training service trends for women as well as describing Ontario's LMDA implementation and its impact on women.
Other presenters at this training were:
During the weekend, ACTEW also connected with representatives of Canada's Status of Women, sharing LMDA implementation information as well as highlights on our upcoming release on the ten components of successful programming for women.
For more on the UNCSW, visit the UN website at:
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/52sess.htm
To learn about the NGO Committee on the Status of Women, visit:
http://www.ngocsw.org/en/main
Watch FAFIA's website for outcomes of this year's UNCSW:
http://www.fafia-afai.org/
Thank you to FAFIA for arranging the delegation and coordinating the highly informative training day.
Eight delegates were hosted by FAFIA and funded by Status of Women Canada to attend. They will return to their agencies across Canada to engage in community development projects inspired by UNCSW events.
As ACTEW's representative, Paula Wansbrough participated in the pre-sessional training seminar for the delegates on Feb. 23, speaking about national employment and training service trends for women as well as describing Ontario's LMDA implementation and its impact on women.
Other presenters at this training were:
- Lynell Anderson on the state of child care policy in Canada
Andrée Côte on public services, parental leave and EI, and pay equity
Michelè Asselin on women's economic security in Quebec
Rhonda Roffey on violence against women in the Ontario context
Louise Riendeau on violence against women in the Quebec context
Muriel Smith on gender budgeting at the local and provincial levels in Manitoba
Jessica Notwell on sustainable livelihoods
During the weekend, ACTEW also connected with representatives of Canada's Status of Women, sharing LMDA implementation information as well as highlights on our upcoming release on the ten components of successful programming for women.
For more on the UNCSW, visit the UN website at:
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/52sess.htm
To learn about the NGO Committee on the Status of Women, visit:
http://www.ngocsw.org/en/main
Watch FAFIA's website for outcomes of this year's UNCSW:
http://www.fafia-afai.org/
Thank you to FAFIA for arranging the delegation and coordinating the highly informative training day.
Labels: ACTEW_Activities, Issues_and_Trends, LMDA, Meetings_and_Events
Empowering Rural Women, Building Communities
Women's organizations have developed innovative initiatives to respond to some of the policy and economic challenges for women in their communities.
- The Rural Women Take Action on Poverty Committee of Huron, Perth, Grey and Bruce Counties has recently partnered with Rural Women Making Change Research Alliance in a research and community development project aimed at unraveling the workings of municipal governments so that women can access them to affect local change.
Women Today of Huron offers "We Belong Here" in which participants learn about citizenship and their rights as women, healthy relationships and local services. They strategize how to utilize new skills and knowledge for individual and collective benefit, building women's confidence in their ability to improve their communities in south-western Ontario.
In South River, Women's Own Resource Centre's Rural Outreach Program Endeavor (ROPE) provides mobile self-employment workshops with a focus on economic success and balanced living. You can learn more about ROPE on ACTEW's profiles of programs that serve women well.
In 2005, Rural Women Making Change partnered with Women's Employment Resource Centre (WERC) of Woodstock to provide a pre-employment program for women living in the 401 corridor communities where manufacturing is replacing agriculture. The program introduced women to the expectations and workplace culture of the male-dominated manufacturing industry and guided them through the rigorous testing that such employers use when hiring.
Currently WERC also offers a networking opportunity for immigrant women. Immigrant issues are rarely acknowledged by rural service delivery, making immigrant women in rural communities twice as invisible.
Further afield, the Northwest Territories Status of Women developed "A How to Guide for Participating in Socio-economic Impact Assessments" to encourage women to participate in resource development assessments. Women rarely benefit from resource development projects and may even be negatively impacted, according to the guide. The resource provides strategies on how gather information about the proposed project, talk to others within the community about its impact, and voice your opinion at a public assessment.
Labels: Issues_and_Trends, Resources_and_Research
The Policy Challenge: Urban-Made Policies Don't Fit Rural Communities
Provincial and federal policy is developed in urban settings through a gender-neutral lens. The economic development needs of rural communities, and particularly those of rural women, are not well served by such policy. They need policies that respond to rural-specific challenges, such as transportation, the high cost of basic necessities, and limited access to child care and training.
Drawing from work by the Rural Women and Poverty Action Committee, Belinda Leach of Rural Women Making Change says income supports, like Employment Insurance (EI) and Ontario Works (OW), are examples of ill-fitting policy.
OW fines recipients for owning a car of a certain value, yet access to reliable transportation is essential for employment in a rural setting where long distances are the norm and public transit is very limited. In fact, 91% percent of rural women travel to work in a car; 1% take public transit.
Both OW and EI put rural women at a disadvantage because they are more likely to work part-time, seasonally and in self-employment, and thus less likely to meet the required number of hours to access support. (For more on EI eligibility issues for women, see inFocus January 2007, ACTEW’s policy newsletter.)
Rural communities also vary from urban ones in value-based attitudes, which are most obvious at election time but have daily effects in the interpretation of policy at the local level. For example, Leach reports that OW policy is applied differently in different places. Recently, women in receipt of OW in Oxford County were not allowed to take a skills based training program but women in a similar program in Toronto could take the program and, furthermore, earned piece rates.
Leach also offers the example of caregivers in Nova Scotia who are
entitled to more support if they stay at home than if they work. She
suggests that in rural communities, prevailing gender ideologies will
combine with such policies to encourage women to follow traditional roles.
To complicate policy issues further, there is great variation among the rural economies in Ontario. Some are agricultural or resource development based, while others are dependent upon manufacturing, food services or recreation. Some experience tremendous seasonal changes in employment levels. Those rural communities where workers can access diverse and well-paying employment in neighbouring urban areas are comparatively wealthier than more remote communities.
For more on rural poverty and related policy recommendations, see the 2002 report by Rural Women and Poverty Action Committee, "Rural Women Speak Out In the Face of Poverty" on the Women Today of Huron web site at: www.wthuron.ca/pdfs/FinalReport.pdf.
Drawing from work by the Rural Women and Poverty Action Committee, Belinda Leach of Rural Women Making Change says income supports, like Employment Insurance (EI) and Ontario Works (OW), are examples of ill-fitting policy.
OW fines recipients for owning a car of a certain value, yet access to reliable transportation is essential for employment in a rural setting where long distances are the norm and public transit is very limited. In fact, 91% percent of rural women travel to work in a car; 1% take public transit.
Both OW and EI put rural women at a disadvantage because they are more likely to work part-time, seasonally and in self-employment, and thus less likely to meet the required number of hours to access support. (For more on EI eligibility issues for women, see inFocus January 2007, ACTEW’s policy newsletter.)
Rural communities also vary from urban ones in value-based attitudes, which are most obvious at election time but have daily effects in the interpretation of policy at the local level. For example, Leach reports that OW policy is applied differently in different places. Recently, women in receipt of OW in Oxford County were not allowed to take a skills based training program but women in a similar program in Toronto could take the program and, furthermore, earned piece rates.
Leach also offers the example of caregivers in Nova Scotia who are
entitled to more support if they stay at home than if they work. She
suggests that in rural communities, prevailing gender ideologies will
combine with such policies to encourage women to follow traditional roles.
To complicate policy issues further, there is great variation among the rural economies in Ontario. Some are agricultural or resource development based, while others are dependent upon manufacturing, food services or recreation. Some experience tremendous seasonal changes in employment levels. Those rural communities where workers can access diverse and well-paying employment in neighbouring urban areas are comparatively wealthier than more remote communities.
For more on rural poverty and related policy recommendations, see the 2002 report by Rural Women and Poverty Action Committee, "Rural Women Speak Out In the Face of Poverty" on the Women Today of Huron web site at: www.wthuron.ca/pdfs/FinalReport.pdf.
Labels: Issues_and_Trends, Resources_and_Research
Monday, February 25, 2008
New Canada-Ontario Agreement on Training and Skills Development
On Friday (Feb 22, 2008), the governments of Canada and Ontario announced "a new agreement to help Ontario workers improve their skills and get better jobs."
Under the new agreement, the Government of Canada will invest nearly $1.2 billion in Ontario's labour market over the next six years. These funds will help individuals and workers who are not eligible for training under the Employment Insurance (EI) program to improve their skills. The funding will also help individuals too often excluded from the labour force, including Aboriginal people, immigrants, persons with disabilities, as well as those workers who lack literacy and essential skills, get the training they need to obtain meaningful and sustainable employment.
Note that this agreement replaces the previously signed 2005 Labour Market Partnership Agreement (LMPA), which was to contribute $300 million/year ongoing to Ontario's labour market development strategies. The new agreement is less money and signed for a finite amount of time (6 years). The money will focus on a few priority areas, including: technical skills training, labour market integration of immigrants, foundation skills and supports, and labour market supports for persons with disabilities.
The agreement comes into effect April 1, 2008, beginning with an investment of about $194 million in 2008-2009. Read full press release and backgrounder on the Government of Canada web site.
Under the new agreement, the Government of Canada will invest nearly $1.2 billion in Ontario's labour market over the next six years. These funds will help individuals and workers who are not eligible for training under the Employment Insurance (EI) program to improve their skills. The funding will also help individuals too often excluded from the labour force, including Aboriginal people, immigrants, persons with disabilities, as well as those workers who lack literacy and essential skills, get the training they need to obtain meaningful and sustainable employment.
Note that this agreement replaces the previously signed 2005 Labour Market Partnership Agreement (LMPA), which was to contribute $300 million/year ongoing to Ontario's labour market development strategies. The new agreement is less money and signed for a finite amount of time (6 years). The money will focus on a few priority areas, including: technical skills training, labour market integration of immigrants, foundation skills and supports, and labour market supports for persons with disabilities.
The agreement comes into effect April 1, 2008, beginning with an investment of about $194 million in 2008-2009. Read full press release and backgrounder on the Government of Canada web site.
Labels: LMDA, LMPA, MTCU_Updates
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
The Rural Economic Landscape: The Lure of the Big Employer
In order to ensure employment, enhance their economies, and avoid depopulation, rural and remote communities work hard to attract new employers.
Belinda Leach of Rural Women Making Change notes that during this process municipalities often do not consider the female labour market, to the detriment of local women and the local economy. Leach observes that municipalities tend to look to large manufacturers or resource development corporations, which typically employ men in "blue collar" work. As a result, most rural communities are dependent upon one or two large employers, generally from the resource development, manufacturing, food services and agriculture sectors.
This has two significant effects:
For more on rural employment trends, see the new fact from ACTEW and Rural Women Making Change at http://actew.org/projects/pwpsite/snapshots/rural.html.
Belinda Leach of Rural Women Making Change notes that during this process municipalities often do not consider the female labour market, to the detriment of local women and the local economy. Leach observes that municipalities tend to look to large manufacturers or resource development corporations, which typically employ men in "blue collar" work. As a result, most rural communities are dependent upon one or two large employers, generally from the resource development, manufacturing, food services and agriculture sectors.
This has two significant effects:
- Because women living rural areas are less likely to enter non-traditional occupations, they are less likely to access such jobs, many of which can be high paying.
Dependence on one or two employers makes rural economies vulnerable to "boom and bust" economic cycles. If the plant or the mine or the mill closes, there is a tremendous ripple effect: not only do many people lose jobs, but smaller local businesses tied to the big employer are also threatened. The community also then has fewer employment options for future generations and the young people move away.
For more on rural employment trends, see the new fact from ACTEW and Rural Women Making Change at http://actew.org/projects/pwpsite/snapshots/rural.html.
Labels: Issues_and_Trends
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Employment Issues for Rural Women: New Fact Sheet
In partnership with the Rural Women Making Change Research Alliance based at Guelph University, ACTEW has just released a new fact sheet on employment issues for women living in rural communities.
For all the beauty and tranquility of the countryside, there's a price to pay:
For more facts on rural women's employment, visit our fact sheet at:
http://www.actew.org/projects/pwpsite/snapshots/rural.html
For more on initiatives and research related to issues for rural women, visit Rural Women Making Change at http://www.rwmc.uoguelph.ca.
For all the beauty and tranquility of the countryside, there's a price to pay:
- Rural communities have much higher unemployment rates than urban areas. While nationally women have lower unemployment rates than men, rural women in Ontario are the exception.
- Transportation is a primary concern. Seventy-three percent of rural women work in a municipality other than the one in which they live, compared to 31% of urban women.
- Rural women earn less than those in urban centres, a pattern that is also true for men. The average income for a Northern Ontario worker is 16.3% lower than the provincial average.
- While rural women are more likely than their urban peers to be self-employed, only 20% earn an income of $20,000 or more, compared to 31% of self-employed urban women.
- Employment agencies serving rural communities report a lack of jobs paying above minimum wage and few training opportunities for clients, and are far less likely than their urban counter-parts to provide women-specific services or program supports like child care.
- Depopulation is a tremendous threat for some communities; in 2001, Elliot Lake in northern Ontario reported a 43% out-migration of young people.
For more facts on rural women's employment, visit our fact sheet at:
http://www.actew.org/projects/pwpsite/snapshots/rural.html
For more on initiatives and research related to issues for rural women, visit Rural Women Making Change at http://www.rwmc.uoguelph.ca.
Labels: ACTEW_Activities, Issues_and_Trends, Resources_and_Research
Friday, February 15, 2008
Strategic Directions and Elements of EO Framework: Share Your Thoughts
MTCU has released the "Discussion Paper: Employment Ontario Integrated Service Delivery Framework" as well as an overview of the paper. These are posted to the Employment Ontario Partners' Gateway: www.eopg.ca (scroll down to the “News” area on the front page for the postings of the paper in February).
The discussion paper outlines strategic directions, and the potential elements of an Employment Ontario integrated service delivery framework. MTCU stresses that the paper does not represent any final decisions but is intended to be a document on which agencies can provide feedback, either through the focus groups happening end of February or through feedback forms.
Community-based sessions will begin next week from February 19 to February 29 and a an online survey is also available on the Employment Ontario Partners' Gateway (the survey is in the same location as the paper). The ministry will use these tools to collect stakeholders' input on the Discussion Paper and plans for the framework.
The framework is to be finalized in March 2008.
The discussion paper outlines strategic directions, and the potential elements of an Employment Ontario integrated service delivery framework. MTCU stresses that the paper does not represent any final decisions but is intended to be a document on which agencies can provide feedback, either through the focus groups happening end of February or through feedback forms.
Community-based sessions will begin next week from February 19 to February 29 and a an online survey is also available on the Employment Ontario Partners' Gateway (the survey is in the same location as the paper). The ministry will use these tools to collect stakeholders' input on the Discussion Paper and plans for the framework.
The framework is to be finalized in March 2008.
Labels: MTCU_Updates
