March 8 is International Women’s Day. This year’s theme is #BalanceforBetter, promoting a more gender-balanced world, where women’s actions and accomplishments are valued and recognized.
Canada is far from being from a gender-balanced society. However, there have been a few improvements for the past few years. In the federal public sector, the current government has put a large emphasis on gender equality. Part of the new Department for Women and Gender Equality’s mandate, whose workers are UNE members, is the “government-wide implementation of Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA+)”. It is going to take years before the various federal departments fully adopt that public policy approach and before we can observe the impact of GBA+.
A lot of work remains to be done at the community level as well, where women can thrive both economically and in leadership positions. A recent report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) focuses on gender gaps in Canada’s 26 most populated cities. Based on four criteria, “economic security”, “education”, “health”, “leadership” and “security”, they ranked the cities where a lot of UNE members live and work. The top 3 cities where the gender gap is the lowest are:
1. Kingston, ON
2. St. John’s, NL
3. Victoria, BC
The Labour movement also needs to reflect on the reality of a persistent gender gap in leadership roles. As part of promoting leadership roles for women within our Union, UNE delegates voted on an important resolution at the 2017 Triennial Convention. The first UNE Women’s Conference will be organized in the fall of 2019. UNE female activists will gather to share ideas and experiences, and learn from each other to develop Union leadership skills.
Together, in our roles as Union activists, UNE members continue to contribute to building inclusive communities and are promoting gender equality.
There are many Labour events on March 8. Take part in an International Women’s Day event in your community!