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Province gets so-so grade on equality

Highlights from UNPAC's Manitoba Equality Report Card 2010: Group gives C+ on report card

By: Melissa Martin

Posted: 03/9/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

Lily Rosenberg (left) talks with sarah.k at the legislature during International Women's Day Monday. (KEN GIGLIOTTI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)

Guess we're not going to Gender Equality Harvard: A new report from a provincial women's group says Manitoba has an OK GPA when it comes to women's needs.

But it's just OK.

On Monday, members of the UN Platform for Action Committee (UNPAC) -- including a caped and green-tighted crusader known as Femme Fiscale -- gathered on the front steps of the provincial legislature to celebrate International Women's Day by releasing UNPAC's Equality Report Card 2010.

Our grade? C+.

Monday's release is the third such provincial report card in Canada. In 2009, Prince Edward Island was given a C rating, and British Columbia eked out a D from local organizations.

Not that a higher grade means Manitoba won the equality Olympics.

"Compared to the Convention of the Elimination of Discimination Against Women, we still have a way to go," said UNPAC's Lorna Turnbull. "While we congratulate government on the progress that has been made, we need to continue to listen (to women)."

The 11-page report card graded the province on issues including health, housing and the prevalence of women in power. Manitoba's highest grade came in the arts, where the province was praised for maintaining the second-highest level of funding per capita in Canada. Only Quebec spends more.

By contrast, the lowest mark in the book went to the province's performance on child care, where low wages for workers, a lack of access to child care by the majority of the population, and a staffing shortage at one-third of child-care centres all contributed to a mediocre C- rating.

A number of provincial officials joined the conference on the legislature steps, including MLAs Jennifer Howard and Rob Altemeyer. "UNPAC's report card illustrates the progress we have made on issues important to women, like health, poverty and child care," said Howard, the provincial minister for the status of women. "And (it) lets us know that we need to keep working on... programs that help women achieve equality. We take their advice and recommendations seriously."

Though UNPAC targeted the province as a whole, one industry is eyeing increased equality for women in its own corner of the market.

To mark International Women's Day, Women in Mining Canada and the Mining Industry Human Resource Council released Ramp-UP, a new report reviewing women's access in the mining industry. The numbers were daunting: Only 14 per cent of mining industry workers are women, and the majority of them are in "traditional" job roles, including cafeteria work and administration.

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca

Highlights from UNPAC’s Manitoba Equality Report Card 2010:

On violence against women: C

Back in 2006, this would have been an A, the report said, thanks to a comprehensive 2001 victims' bill of rights. But after a half-decade of cuts to support programs and plans that never came to fruition -- and a seven-week average wait for a counsellor for women in crisis -- that grade has slipped.

On health: B

If you're a woman in a remote area, this may seem a surprise. But despite a big disparity in health access, most Manitoba women consider themselves in great health, and provincial initiatives to support the health of single mothers and their children helps women when many need it most.

On housing: C

Plans for 1,500 new affordable housing units are a good start, but it's just a start, UNPAC said: 11.3 per cent of Manitoba women are stuck in housing that is unsafe, too cramped, or too expensive for their income. For aboriginal women, it's a third.

On women in power: B+

All hail the power suit: With 31.6 per cent of its elected officials being women, Manitoba has the most gender-balanced representation in Canada. Recently appointing Rosann Wowchuk as the first provincial finance minister is a bonus.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 9, 2010 A7

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