By Chris Lackner
In contrast with Canada’s international reputation for human rights, experts say the country is failing to meet the needs of its largest group of citizens — woman.
In 1995, Canada stood on the international stage and made a commitment to improve women’s lives. The United Nations’ Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action outlined the key fronts in the international battle for women’s equality, in areas such as health care, poverty, economic security and violence against women.
In early March, New York hosted Beijing’s 10th anniversary. Countries representatives gathered to evaluate their progress and examine new challenges facing women. Canada sent bureaucrats, politicians and close to 25 members of non-governmental organizations, but many groups say Canada has not done enough to meet its own commitments.
“Due to policy shifts in the last decade, women no longer have the safety net they once did,” says Nancy Peckford, program director for the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action, who attended the recent anniversary. “There is a huge discrepancy between how Canada brokers human rights internationally and how it performs back home.”
Canada’s federal government was preoccupied with fighting deficits from 1995 to 1997. Heavy cuts to social programming, health, education and provincial transfers had a negative impact on women, Peckford says. When social spending is curbed, women bear the brunt of the damage, she says. They are often the first to lose their jobs, which makes them even more dependent on programs. When the health care system is failing, it is women who often take care of the sick and elderly.
Of greatest concern is the lack of mandatory gender-based analysis in federal departments, budgets and legislation, Peckford says.
After Beijing, the government committed to analyzing how government policies affect men and women differently. Each department was supposed to make gender analysis a mandatory part its decision-making process.
Nancy-Jean Waugh, the director of communications for Status of Women Canada, says the government knows it still has a lot of work to do. But she points to new childcare and parental leave benefits as some of Canada’s advancements. Current federal priorities include easing the burdens of aboriginal women, lone female parents and seniors.
Waugh says stronger accountability mechanisms need to be built into government procedures to ensure gender-based analysis is properly conducted in each department. Waugh says federal-provincial co-operation through the Ministers Responsible for the Status of Women, as well as the standing committee on the status of women, also play key roles in advancing women’s rights.
But many of those outside the government believe Beijing’s aims may be nobler than its deeds. Beverley Jacobs, the president of the Native Women’s Association of Canada, says the plight of aboriginal women — burdened by poor access to education, and higher than average levels of poverty and violence — is still largely ignored.
She says countries at the UN are not held accountable for their performance on women’s issues. “There are no repercussions for a state other than embarrassment.”
Maya Roy, an activist who works for the Institute for Studies in Social Inclusion at Ryerson University, agrees. She says the UN’s meetings tend to emphasize vague rhetoric over genuine action.
Roy was involved in preparatory conferences for the New York meeting, which were held in Geneva, Switzerland in December 2004
“It’s a very bureaucratic process — not one set up to provide change,” the 24-year-old says.
“If the Beijing Platform sets up a vision for where we want to be, then that’s fine, but there needs to be political will to carry it out.”
While Beijing has its critics, the head of the Canadian delegation emphasized its achievements while in New York last month.
“Women’s rights must be rigorously protected and promoted in all areas, from economic and political, to sexual and reproductive rights,” Liza Frulla, minister of state for the Status of Women, told the conference. “We have made tremendous strides and now is not the time to go backwards.”
Despite widespread skepticism about Beijing’s practical success so far, it did offer a public forum to women’s issues, as well as networking opportunities for women’s groups, Peckford says.
“These forums allow women from around the world to discuss similar problems — Canadian women get the sense that they’re not alone,” she added.
“But we can’t depend on goodwill and good intention. Without the legislative imperative, I don’t know whether we’re going to get very far.”