Canadian women making great strides

I often say, “Where would I be without the women in my life?” It’s true. I couldn’t do the job I do without the support and advice of women including my wife and daughters and the three women on my staff.

As for the women in our community, all our lives are better because of their outstanding commitment to our business, social and volunteer sectors.
One of those women is Ruth Mellor who was this year’s recipient of the Gert Beadle Award presented by the Kelowna Women’s Resource Centre to recognize the value of the invisible work that is done at the community level to enhance women’s equality. 

Ruth was honored for her contributions to women’s equality and social justice appropriately on March 8th, International Women’s Day.

It was a day honored in the House of Commons as well and figured prominently during Question Period with MPs asking about the status of women in Canadian society and the Government’s initiatives for women, particularly in Budget 2010.

To listen to the Opposition in the House of Commons there was simply nothing for women in Budget 2010. Not true. The focus on jobs, jobs, jobs and the economy has everything to do with women. Without jobs and a strong economy, women, along with their spouses, cannot support their families.

What about our investments in post-secondary education, research and development and the business sector? Investments in these sectors directly benefit women.

The fact is women are making giant strides in Canadian society and the statistics prove it.

In 2007, women attained 61 per cent of all university degrees, diplomas and certificates – compared to 55 per cent in 1998.

The high school dropout rate has fallen to 7 per cent, from 9 per cent in 2002.

In 2009, for the first time, Canadian women became the majority in the workforce, at 50.9 per cent, up from 47 per cent in 2004.

Women are starting small businesses at twice the rate of men, and women's average incomes have increased almost 17 per cent since 2002.

When it comes to power and decision-making, we are making progress there, too. Currently 28.9 per cent of Canada's federal Cabinet is made up of women – the highest percentage ever.

Within our federal government bureaucracy, 38.7 per cent of Deputy Ministers are now women, compared to 25 per cent in 2005. This is an increase of 50 per cent.

Women make up 54.9 per cent of Canada's federal public service, and 43 per cent of executive category positions – up from 33.8 per cent in 2005.
Those are encouraging numbers for Canadian women but we cannot rest on our laurels. There are issues which must be addressed.

There were 38,000 police-reported incidents of family violence in 2009, and 83 per cent of victims were women.

So we are working to help vulnerable women who are the victims of crime.
In Canada, levels of government are working to improve our responses to violence against women, including through prevention and tougher laws that put victims ahead of criminals. 

We also recognize that women and girls continue to experience sexual exploitation.  We will continue our efforts to combat the crime of trafficking in persons, which targets women and girls for the purpose of sexual exploitation. We have also renewed a Strategy focused on preventing the sexual exploitation of children on the Internet.

As well, the Government of Canada is continuing to work to improve the situation of aboriginal women in Canada who are more vulnerable to poverty, violence and discrimination.

But helping the victims is not enough.

Internationally, Canada is committed to making important contributions to women and girls not just at home but also internationally.

Last year Canada hosted an inaugural conference to begin development of an international governance structure for Shelter networks. Seventeen countries attended the inaugural conference.

The Global Network presents new opportunities for family violence prevention workers from around the world to network, to share proven innovations, and to learn from international experts and each other.

Our efforts in Afghanistan help enable thousands of girls to go to school in areas where this was previously impossible.

In Haiti, which was showing tangible gains in the areas of security and governance before the earthquake, we are determined to assist in every way possible as the country rebuilds.

Canada recently announced that we will be taking a leadership role in another initiative as well.

Prime Minister Harper said when he addressed world leaders in Davos in January "Every year over 500,000 women die in pregnancy and nearly nine million children die before their fifth birthday.  Often the keys of life are nothing more sophisticated than clean water and basic treatment against infection."

That's why Prime Minister Harper announced that as host of this year's G8 Summit, Canada will champion a major initiative to improve the health of women and children in the world's most vulnerable regions as part of its international aid efforts.

Canada is committed to equality for women and men, which is not only a human rights issue but an essential part of ensuring that women contribute fully to the economic, social and democratic life of Canada.

And I believe that in Canada, support for the advancement of women across our society comes from both women and men. We become stronger as a nation when women experience every opportunity possible and certainly the women and men of this Government will continue to ensure that equality for women remains a priority.

Ron Cannan is the MP for Kelowna-Lake Country.  Ron can be contacted by email at  [email protected] or phone at 250-470-5075. 

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.