Gender equality

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In this report from CCPA-NS, Phyllis Rippeyoung argues that the increasing pressures put on mothers to parent intensively—and the concomitant lack of government policies to support them in this work—makes women the primary bearers of the associated costs of mothering.
Hennessy’s Index is a monthly listing of numbers, written by the CCPA's Trish Hennessy, about Canada and its place in the world. For other months, visit: http://policyalternatives.ca/index 32
It started slowly.  It usually does.  He chipped away at her self-esteem, isolated her from friends, then family.  She wasn’t allowed to work.  She wasn’t allowed to talk to others.  She wasn’t allowed to look at anyone.  So began fourteen years of hell with her abuser.   Shannon was young when they married.  Growing up in a small town in Manitoba she had witnessed addiction and abuse in her home.  She learned at an early age to hide— to be there but not really be present.   “That is what I carried into relationships with me,” Shannon says. 
Women in BC may well decide who becomes the next premier. According to a recent Ipsos Reid poll, most are not inclined to support Christie Clark, and this could make all of the difference in the election. There is much speculation about why Clark is having such trouble with female voters. These explanations sometimes relate to the economy (women do not rate economic performance as highly as men), or to women’s “quirks” (women are less forgiving about Clark’s mistakes), or to their disapproval of her style of leadership.
TORONTO – A new Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA-Ontario) report challenges the Ontario government to take 10 steps to close the province’s persistent pay gap between men and women.  The report, 10 Ways To Close Ontario’s Gender Pay Gap, shows women in Ontario still earn 28 per cent less than men – despite increased levels of education and workforce participation. 
(Vancouver) A new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives compares the earnings of women in BC to those in the rest of Canada. The report was authored by Marjorie Griffin Cohen, an economist and SFU Professor of Political Science and Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies. Among the key findings:
More than thirty years ago, the women’s movement put child care on the public agenda. And while there have been important successes along the way, it can get depressing for grandmothers like me to see so little political progress. Parent fees are too high, staff wages are too low, there are nowhere near enough spaces and public funding is almost non-existent. But the good news is that there’s a solution.
In Canada, many workers do not earn a living wage because of discrimination. Women work­ers and those who are racialized, immigrant, Aboriginal, living with disabil­ities or similarly disadvantaged are all segregated into low wage job ghettoes—their work systemically devalued. Governments and employers need to deliver more equitable compensation incomes for vulnerable workers. This paper explores how we can close discriminatory pay gaps, so that this basic human right — the right to work and to earn pay free of discrimination — is realized for Canada’s low-paid workers.
Hennessy's Index is a monthly listing of numbers, written by the CCPA's Trish Hennessy, about Canada and its place in the world. For other months, visit: http://policyalternatives.ca/index