Women's Equality Branch
You're receiving this message because you subscribed.
Not interested anymore? Unsubscribe
Subscribe to Women Femmes NB  

All Issues | 2015 Issues

WOMEN FEMMES NB

IN THIS ISSUE:

Featured Article:
Women Do What They Need To Do To Survive – Part I     

Notices

Did You Know?

In the News:
    - Women in STEM and Business: Sexism Puts Teenage Girls Like Me Off Careers in the Industry
    - Canada's Employment Gender Gap Risks 'Economic Crisis'
    - What is Spiritual Abuse?    

Parting Thoughts

Women Do What They Need To Do To Survive – Part I

Our preconceived notions about sexual assault have far-reaching, dangerous consequences

This article has been edited for length and broken into three parts. Parts II and III will appear in the next edition of the newsletter.

When I was eight, I was told that people wouldn’t respond if you shout the word “help.” Instead, you should shout “rape” or “fire.”

…When women are in trouble in real life, it often doesn’t feel like what we’ve been trained to expect. There is no smoke; there are no alarms, just our internal voices, asking, “What’s going on here?”... When we do hear about the friendly neighbourhood serial attacker on the news, we get all the gory details. We can Monday-morning-quarterback the scenarios and loudly say, “Well, obviously this guy is a bad guy and I know what I would do if I was in a room with that bad guy.” But assuming the attacker looks like our construction of a monster, and the victim like our construction of a damsel in distress, has far-reaching consequences.

Emergencies so often don’t look like emergencies as we’re taught to understand them when we are children. Monsters don’t look like the monsters we’ve been taught to avoid.

…Most of the twenty-five percent of women in the world who survive attacks are not falling prey to Law & Order-style predators and home invaders. Women are having these moments with men who will never do anything like that again, or with men who don’t think of themselves as monsters and therefore don’t think they could do anything monstrous. Friends, acquaintances, people who are good brothers, and great sons, and loving boyfriends to other women, are committing these assaults. And in these moments, these men who you will recognize from your office and your lobby and your dinner table, each make a decision—and it is a decision—to prioritize their needs, wants, or ego, over another person’s body. And when they make that decision once, they may do it again, and again. (…)

http://hazlitt.net/feature/women-do-what-they-need-do-survive

Back to Top

NOTICES

Support group for adult male survivors of childhood sexual abuse:  An initiative of the Fredericton Sexual Assault Centre, beginning in April 2016. For more information contact: 506-478-0315 (please leave a voice mail message).

Since 2011, International Girls in ICT Day has been celebrated in 150 countries around the world with more than 5,300 events and participation of over 177,000 girls and young women. International Girls in ICT Day will next be celebrated on April 28 2016. Find out how to get involved here.
https://www.facebook.com/events/261028464066900/

Free certified online training on Domestic Violence in the Workplace, a four-part online training series that includes:
    1.    Introduction to Domestic Violence in the Workplace
    2.    Understanding Domestic Violence
    3.    Teach Everyone  Warning Signs and Risk Factors
    4.    Respond: SNCit to Start the Conversation
Each module should take approximately 20 minutes.  Upon completion of all four training modules and the evaluation, you will receive a certificate of completion. This training is FREE for a limited time! Access the Training here

Introduction to Boards for Women Workshop – Conducted by Aldéa Landry, the workshop targets women who are interested in serving on boards and want to learn everything they should know about joining a board, and how it can help their career.
    ·  Edmundston (French) Tuesday, April 19, 1:00 – 4:00 pm, Edmundston Convention Centre, $30.
       Contact [email protected] or 506-473-9775.
    ·  Fredericton (English) Wednesday, April 20, 1:00 – 4:00 pm, Planet Hatch, $30. Contact
       [email protected] or 506-452-3918
Seating is limited, reserve now!

Status of Women Canada is soliciting proposals for projects that will empower women to participate more actively in the democratic and public life of Canada. Organizations can apply for funding under Stream 1 of this call for proposals – Empowering Indigenous Women for Stronger Communities – by June 1. Organizations can apply for funding under Stream 2 – which includes both Empowering Women for Political Action and Empowering Women for Community Action – by May 2. For more information: http://bit.ly/1PWsd4k 

Disability Awareness Week Awards. In celebration of Disability Awareness Week, the Executive Committee and the Premier’s Council on the Status of Disabled Persons would like you to submit the name of a person, organization or community for a provincial recognition award or for the Hon. Andy Scott Award. Do you know someone who should be honored for their service and commitment to persons with disabilities? Fill out the submission form at www.gnb.ca/council and enter that person/organization/municipality by May 6th 2016.

The following fundraising events for the Family Enrichment and Counselling Service take place in April:
    ·  Community Breakfast – sponsored by Y Service Club @ Willie O’Ree Saturday, April 23
       from 8:00 – 10:30 am. Cost $7.00
    ·  Wine Tasting @ The Station Thursday, April 28 from 6:00 – 8:30 pm. Cost $ 45.00 (must be
       pre-purchased)
For more information call Family Enrichment at (506) 458-8211, 1-888-829-6777, or email [email protected].

Public Legal Education and Information Service of New Brunswick (PLEIS-NB) is pleased to offer the following family law workshops in April:
    · Fredericton – April 20, 2016, 7:00-9:00 pm – Separation: Legal Considerations at UNB, Ludlow
      Hall
    · Moncton – April 20, 2016, 6:30-8:30 – Changing a Child Support Order at the Moncton Public
      Library
    · Saint John – April 27, 2016, 6:30-8:30 – Separation: Legal Considerations  at the Saint John East
      Branch Public Library
To register, you must complete the on-line registration form or call the toll-free Family Law Information Line at: 1-888-236-2444.  

Family Enrichment and Counselling Service is offering a Mindfulness & Meditation for Recovering Alcoholics program (Free). Twelve Mondays, starting May 2, 7:00 – 8:30 pm. Register by: April 25.  Weekly meetings to explore mindfulness, meditation and Buddhist teachings.  We will get together for the common purpose of relieving suffering, increasing insight, promoting kindness and finding out who we really are. For more information call Family Enrichment at (506) 458-8211, 1-888-829-6777, email [email protected] or http://familyenrichment.ca/index.php/en/page/home

Support to Single Parents Programs, Moncton:
    · Helping the Family Thrive after Separation (5 Steps to prevent divorce abuse) $30 Mondays    
    starting May 9, 9:30-11:30 am. Facilitator: Debbie Melanson-Hebert. This program will help parents
    become aware of how their actions may inadvertently harm their children, as well as provide
    parents with the skills they need to stay child-focused while minimizing poor choices amidst
    conflict and loss ($20 book, optional).
No one will be refused service if they are unable to pay. Registration begins 3 weeks before start date. Call Nathalie at 506-858-1303 ext. 3301, Email: [email protected]. For more information on programs: www.supporttosingleparents.ca

Current Opportunities to Serve on New Brunswick Agencies, Boards and Commissions (ABCs):  Qualified women and men having the highest personal and professional integrity are invited to serve on New Brunswick agencies, boards and commissions (ABCs).  For more information, check out the following link:    ABC current opportunities

Voices of New Brunswick Women Consensus-Building Forum: Contact Us: Sartain MacDonald Building, 551 King Street, Suite 103, Fredericton NB E3B 1E7, T. 506.462.5179, 1-844-462-5179, F. 506.462.5069, E. [email protected], www.voixfemmesnb-voiceswomennb.ca.

Back to Top

In the News:

Women in STEM and Business: Sexism Puts Teenage Girls Like Me Off Careers in the Industry

When you hear the word 'business', what word do you expect to follow? Most people would say 'man', of course, because that is the vision and the reality. Only 4.6% of America's Fortune 500 CEOs are female, and in the UK, only six women are CEOs of FTSE 100 companies. The business world, along with STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects, has an incredible lack of female employees, and even more so in leadership.

It's easy to dismiss this phenomenon and blame women for their absence in the fields, with typical comments including 'Well, maybe women just don't want those jobs'. But it's critical to analyze why women don't fit into the STEM world as they should.

Maybe it starts with 'micro-aggressions' – the ones that shove Barbies and make-up kits down our throats while our brothers get Lego, construction toys and other things that help develop STEM skills at a young age.

Even when young girls, such as myself, gather interest in STEM subjects or business later on in life, we're ridiculed and immediately treated as outcasts who are much less intelligent than our male counterparts. While I was in my junior year of high school, I was the only girl on the Advanced Placement (AP) Physics course, and this experience proved to me just how horrible sexism and harassment in these areas can be. (…)

Why we need more women in STEM areas
    ·  Women make up 14.4% of UK STEM workforce
    ·  28% of the world's researchers are women
    ·  15% of engineering graduates are female
    ·  8.2% of engineering professionals are female
    ·  Women make up 17.5% of ICT (information and communications technology) professionals
    ·  Only one in 10 STEM managers are female

Continued: http://bit.ly/1ZObYKG

Back to Top

Canada's Employment Gender Gap Risks 'Economic Crisis'

Job prospects for women are looking increasingly bleak as the so-called fourth industrial revolution puts female-dominated industries at imminent risk.

In Canada, where the traditional gender employment divide persists, that could mean a big hit to the economy given that almost half of the Canadian labour force is comprised of women.

"If we can't equip 50 per cent of our workforce with some of the foundational skills for where much of the market growth is going, we will be in a real economic crisis," Jane Wilson, the women's services director at Community MicroSkills Development Centre, said in a recent interview. (…)

Over the next four years, technological advances, like robotics and 3D printing, are expected to shift the employment landscape in a way that most adversely impacts traditionally female industries, according to a recent future jobs report from the World Economic Forum.

Nearly 4.8 million office and administrative jobs, for example, will disappear globally by 2020. Currently, women fill more than half of those roles around the world.

Meanwhile, some male-dominated industries, like architecture and engineering, stand to gain hundreds of thousands of jobs over the same time period. (…)

Both Grenaway and Wilson advocate for more investment for programs geared to helping women train for and transition into such career paths — particularly, programs that focus on helping women overcome unique barriers to employment, like access to affordable childcare.

Otherwise, Canada will be left lacking a talented workforce to fill future job openings.

"There's a downside as far as the economy goes whichever way you look at it if we don't take a harder look at the magnitude of effort and investment that will be needed to turn around the ship ... so that women are heading in droves towards these jobs," Wilson said.

Continued: http://huff.to/204Nr48

Back to Top

What is Spiritual Abuse?

There are many different types of abuse, but one you may not be aware of is spiritual (or religious) abuse. If it’s discussed at all, most examples of spiritual abuse refer to a church elder or faith leader inflicting abuse on congregation members, often by creating a toxic culture within the church or group by shaming or controlling members using the power of their position. However, spiritual abuse can also occur within an intimate partner relationship.

Spiritual abuse is not limited to a certain religion or denomination. Any person, of any belief system, is capable of perpetrating spiritual abuse, just as anyone can be the victim of it. Signs of spiritual abuse between intimate partners include when an abusive partner:

• ridicules or insults the other person’s religious or spiritual beliefs
• prevents the other partner from practicing their religious or spiritual beliefs
• uses their partner’s religious or spiritual beliefs to manipulate or shame them
• forces the children to be raised in a faith that the other partner has not agreed to
• uses religious texts or beliefs to minimize or rationalize abusive behaviors (such as physical, financial, emotional or sexual abuse/marital rape)

Spiritual abuse is no less harmful or difficult to endure than any other kind of abuse, as a person’s spiritual life is deeply personal. However, it can be very difficult to identify, as many victims may not recognize they are being abused. In addition, the abusive partner may claim that any challenge to the abuse is an assault on their own religious freedom. Regardless of either partner’s religious or spiritual beliefs, abuse of any kind is never acceptable or justified.

If you are experiencing spiritual abuse, it can help to create a safety plan that might include:

• reaching out to a trusted member of your spiritual/religious community for support
• exploring options for practicing your faith/religion in a safe way
• creating an emotional safety plan

http://www.thehotline.org/2015/11/what-is-spiritual-abuse/

Parting Thoughts

“You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right.”

-Rosa Parks

To unsubscribe, click here.
Subscribe to Women Femmes NB
Questions or comments? E-mail us at [email protected] or call 1-877-253-0266
Women's Equality Branch | 551 King Street, Suite A | Fredericton, NB E3B 5H1