Women's Equality Branch
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All Issues | 2015 Issues

WOMEN FEMMES NB

IN THIS ISSUE:

Featured Article:
Provincial Government Moves Forward With Pay Equity
 

Notices

Did You Know?

In the News:
    - Rural Women Face Unique Challenges in Escaping Domestic Violence
    - 11 Ways Dads Can Help Raise Strong Daughters
    - Media Representations of Violence Against Women And Their
      Children: Final Report    

Parting Thoughts

Provincial Government Moves Forward With Pay Equity

The provincial government is taking a major step forward with implementing pay equity in government.

“This reflects our commitment to improve pay equity across all parts of government,” said Finance Minister Cathy Rogers. “I am pleased that we are making a significant stride forward in fulfilling that commitment.”

Rogers spoke on behalf of Treasury Board President Roger Melanson.

The provincial government has approved the implementation of pay equity adjustments for one of its largest groups of employees. The group, represented by local 2745 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, includes more than 3,000 workers in the education sector, of which the vast majority is women. These workers include educational assistants, administrative assistants, school library workers and intervention workers.

“Staff from the provincial government, in particular the compensation and classification branch of the Treasury Board, are to be commended for carrying out a detailed, non-discriminatory job evaluation exercise and applying a statistically sound methodology to determine the inequities, while working in collaboration with the union,” said Rogers.

The commitment will equate to $3.5 million a year over the next 10 years.

“All private-sector employers are encouraged to examine the wage gap within their organizations and assess whether systemic discrimination and/or pay inequity exists,” said Rogers. “We will continue to explore opportunities to involve the private sector in achieving this goal.”

http://bit.ly/296dDvB

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NOTICES

Once again this fall, Status of Women Canada will honour five individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to advancing equality for women and girls with the Governor General’s Awards in Commemoration of the Persons Case. The deadline to submit a nomination for the 2016 Persons Case Awards has been extended to July 10, 2016. Know someone who’s helped advance gender equality? Nominate them today.

Domestic Homicide Brief #1: Domestic Violence Death Review Committees: "Speaking for the Dead to Protect the Living" The Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative with Vulnerable Populations (CDHPIVP) has published their first Domestic Homicide Brief of their series.  The Brief highlights and describes domestic violence death review committees.  To read the Brief, click here.  For more information on the CDHPIVP research project, click here.

GEN1: Help Build the First Generation Free From Violence Against Women

Would you believe that 67 per cent of all Canadians say they have personally known at least one woman who has experienced physical or sexual abuse? There must be something more that we can do to end violence against women. You can be a part of making a difference. GEN1 is a vision for building the first generation in Canada that lives free from violence against women.  By joining the GEN1 movement and pledging your support today, you can help make GEN1 a reality. Together, we can build a better future for Canada and take positive steps toward gender equality. Click here to take the pledge to join GEN1 today.

Free Education Money: Canada Learning Bonds from the Gov’t of Canada are available to children born in 2004 or later, whose family’s net income is $44,701 or less. Eligible children receive $500 at start, plus an extra $100 for each eligible year (to age 15 or maximum $2,000), including years prior to the application. Apply online at www.StartMyRESP.ca/CLBNB.

The Government of Canada is currently accepting applications from organizations interested in receiving financial assistance from the Enabling Accessibility Fund (EAF). The Standard Grant Application for Funding can be submitted under either the Workplace Accessibility Stream or the Community Accessibility Stream of the EAF. Apply Now. Deadline: July 26 at 11:59 p.m. PT. Link: Enabling Accessibility Fund.

Fergusson Foundation 2016 Grants Program: The Fergusson Foundation is accepting proposals for funding from registered charities, for projects dealing with the problem of family violence. The organizations selected will be awarded a grant, to a maximum of $3,000 to undertake projects in areas including counseling, training, public education and educational research. To be considered for funding, the proposal project must fall into one of the following categories: the operation of emergency  shelters and the provision of counseling and other services to victims of family violence; the development of counseling and  training programs for the education of counselors working with  victims of family violence; the development of public education programs about family violence; the support of educational  research into the causes of family violence, and to assist with the  education and training of victims of family violence. The deadline for receiving applications is Monday, August 8th, 2016. [email protected]

The Conference for Integrative and Energy Therapies - 18^th Annual Canadian Energy Psychology Conference-2016. The Body’s Energy Systems: Doorways for Psychological Change.  Delta Halifax, 1990 Barrington St, Halifax NS, Tel: 1-800-268-1133. Main Conference: September 16-18, Pre and Post conference workshops: September 15 and September 19. Satisfy your professional Continuing Education requirements in an atmosphere of collegiality, collaboration, compassion and fun.  Special track for mental health professionals new to Energy Psychology will be taught by Dr. David Feinstein. Reduced conference fees for members of CAIET, the only Canadian organization for Energy Therapies. Join now at www.caiet.org.  For information & to register: www.epccanada.ca, 416-221-5639.

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.

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In the News:

Rural Women Face Unique Challenges in Escaping Domestic Violence

Rina Arseneault releases her new report on Monday based on focus groups with counsellors and survivors.

Women in rural New Brunswick face unique challenges in escaping intimate partner violence, according to the findings of a new report released by the Muriel McQueen Fergusson Centre on Monday.

Rina Arseneault, the associate director of the Muriel McQueen Fergusson Centre for Family Violence Research, said the project included interviews with survivors of domestic violence and the support workers who try to help them in New Brunswick.

She said there are more challenges to escape an abusive partner in rural settings for many reasons.

"It's farther away from urban centres where most of the services are located," Arseneault told Information Morning Moncton.

Travel can be difficult, particularly in the winter, and when limited transportation options could mean having to take the same ferry as their abuser to attend court, for example.

Other barriers include fears about being able to find employment, the lack of access to education, daycare, and health services, and inadequate housing and social services.

"Some of the other issues are certainly with small towns — so living in the same town as your partner."

Arseneault said more conservative attitudes in small communities can make it more difficult for women to come forward, especially if the woman isn't from the community but the man is.

"The community will have a tendency of being more supportive to him than to her because she's seen as an outsider," she said.

She said coming forward can also be more difficult in small towns because memories are long.

"If you are a family that has struggled then the community remembers that and so that family from generation to generation will be looked at differently," Arseneault explains.

Service cut in rural areas adds to challenge…

Continued: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/muriel-mcqueen-partner-violence-study-rural-1.3606962

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11 Ways Dads Can Help Raise Strong Daughters

Six nights out of seven, our oldest daughter, now a very proud “five and three quarters,” will fall asleep with a book on her chest. (…)

Her mind, at this point, is incredibly fertile, and it’s an amazing privilege for us to be able to watch the many plants start to grow in that amazing young mind of hers. But it’s also terrifying how easy it is for seeds we didn’t plant to take root.

Because for every “I learned to read all by my own,” she says, there’s a “that’s just for boys,” or “that’s just for girls,” waiting for us.

The truth is, my daughters don’t read my posts. At their age, my daughters don’t read A Mighty Girl or Feministing or Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls or any of the many great sites out there that regularly present amazing stories of women doing amazing things unless we share them with them.

As a dad, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how I can raise girls to believe they are as strong as I know they are. There is no single way to do this I’ve learned, and it will often feel like everything you do is a failure. But I have found there are a number of small things dads can do to raise strong daughters. (…)

1.     Protect them with knowledge, not with your muscles or guns. 

Let’s all make the dad holding a gun to his daughter’s prom date’s head a thing of the past. If we want to protect our daughters, let’s make sure we teach them from an early age about consent, teach them that they make decisions about their own bodies, teach them about body and sex positivity. (…)

2.     Have some female role models yourself. 

There are billions of amazing women out there and just because we grew up thinking football players and boy band stars were the most worthy of our emulation doesn’t mean that as grownups we can’t find new role models.

Continued: http://www.canadianwomen.org/blog/11-ways-dads-can-help-raise-strong-daughters

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Media Representations of Violence Against Women And Their Children: Final Report

This project aimed to establish the extent and nature of reporting of violence against women by the Australian media to inform future strategies for change.

Using both quantitative (content analysis) and qualitative (critical discourse analysis) methods, the study provided a glimpse into the complexity of reporting practices.

It found that:

• There is a clear link between media reporting and attitudes and beliefs in relation to violence against women, with audiences’ emotional responses and attributions of responsibility affected by how the media frames news.
• The vast majority of reporting on violence against women was “incident based”, looking at tragic individual instances, but not exploring the issue in more depth.
• The lack of social context in reporting, and thereby the broader public’s understanding of the issue, could be improved by the inclusion of more expert sources, including domestic violence advocates and those with lived experience of violence (…).
• The narrow use of sources contributed to a “murder centric” frame of most reporting, which is no doubt newsworthy but doesn’t necessarily reflect women’s different experiences of violence. (…) Other types of violence, including emotional, threats or sexual harassment were all but invisible.
• Myths and misrepresentations still find their way into reporting. Around 15 % of incident based reporting includes victim blaming, like she was drinking, flirting/went home with the perpetrator, was out alone, they were arguing; 14.8 % of incident based reporting offers excuses for the perpetrator, like he was drinking, using drugs, jealous/seeking revenge, “snapped” or “lost control”.
• Interestingly, and for the first time, this research  picked up on a tendency to render the perpetrator invisible, with 59.8% of incident based reporting including no information whatsoever about the perpetrator.
• Choice of language can sometimes be insensitive, for example 17.2 % of newspaper and online headlines were deemed sensationalistic (…).
• Though we know the news media can be a powerful source of information for women looking to leave a violent relationship, only 4.3 % of news reports included help seeking information (…).

Continued and to download full report: http://anrows.org.au/publications/horizons/media-representations

Parting Thoughts

“You move totally away from reality
when you believe that there is a legitimate reason to suffer.”

-Byron Katie

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