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Women Femmes NB is sent out twice a month by the provincial government Women's Issues Branch. It provides news related to equality issues, including events, studies, initiatives and information from women's groups, governments, universities, etc.
Text from non-governmental sources will be published in the language(s) in which it is provided.
In This Issue:
• Women and Men Using the Health Care System
• Notices
• A N.B. Study of Young Women's Engagement in Policy-making
• Those Who Stayed Away
• Sisters In Spirit Research Results
• How Emergency Contraception Actually Works
• U.S. State Department 2011 Trafficking in Persons Report
WOMEN AND MEN USING THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
This year, 14,000 New Brunswickers participated in a primary health care survey by the N.B. Health Council. Some of the results are available by sex (though not combined with other characteristics, such as Aboriginal, language, age, etc.). Excerpts:
In the last year, more N.B. women than men:
- Visited a personal family doctor: 87% of women and 74% of men
- Visited a hospital emergency room: 45% of women and 39% of men.
- Consulted an alternative practitioner 24% of women and 17% of men.
- Used Tele-Care or other advice/info line: 12% of women and 7% of men.
- Consulted a professional about mental or emotional health: 20% of women, 10.5% of men.
As many women as men consider their health to be excellent or very good: women, 54%; men, 52%.
Twice as many women as men have a nurse practitioner regularly involved in their health care (4% versus 2%). In the last year, 7% of women and 3% of men consulted a nurse practitioner. The great majority, 89% of women and 80% of men, were very satisfied (8 or above on a scale of 0 to 10).
Only 76% of women whose language of choice is French received health services in that language (compared to 95% of women whose language of choice was English & 82% of men whose language of choice was French).
15% of men but only 9% of women say they most often go to a hospital emergency room when they are sick or in need of a health professional.
More women have been unable to leave the house because of their health: women, 18.5%; men, 15%.
- Primary Health Care Survey Results, N.B. Health Council, 2011 http://bit.ly/qUhSrB
NOTICES
Working with Multi-Problem Families - a one-day workshop with Dr. Lorraine Fox, to help workers develop the skills necessary to prioritize the needs of multi-problem families & develop assessments and case plans based on family strengths and resources. Dr. Fox, who holds degrees in clinical psychology & organizational development, & is a Certified Child Care Worker, has been working for over 45 years in child and youth care work. Feedback from last year's workshops with Dr. Fox was overwhelmingly positive. Save the date. Registration (limited) will begin in Sept. Woodstock Civic Centre, Thurs 6 Oct 2011. $50. Woodstock Caring Communities Committee
Helping or Hurting? The Dilemma of Providing Discipline - Free evening session with Dr. Lorraine Fox (see above). Woodstock High School Theatre. Wed 5 Oct 2011, 7-9 pm. Open to all.
N.B.'s Changing Demographics & How That Will Affect Economic Growth View the lecture & slide presentation by Michael Haan, UNB prof. & Canada Research Chair in Population and Social Policy http://bit.ly/mOxFdn.
Releasing My Critical Chatter: An Autobiographical Narrative from the Black Diaspora a book by Mary Louise McCarthy, on leave from her position with the N.B. government to work on a PhD (on N.B. education policy 1900-2010 & the lack of diversity within schools). In her book, she theorizes through experiences of racism and sexism in her daily life as a child, a student, a mother and an employee. Nsemia Publishers, 2011. http://bit.ly/ns651e
Pay Equity The job analysis questionnaires for Direct Caregivers in community residences in N.B. have been mailed out and are online. Wage Gap Reduction Initiative, Gov't of N.B. http://bit.ly/qUhSvl
Since the end of June 2011, the National Clearinghouse on Family Violence no longer disseminates hard copy publications. Visit their new online inventory for access to many printer-friendly documents on family violence prevention and intervention. http://bit.ly/pTT7mE
Toll-Free Crisis Counselling Line for Survivors of Human Trafficking & Exploitation - Referral to local support agencies. 24-7 service across Canada (English). Chrysalis Anti-Human Trafficking Network. 1-866-528-7109; www.chrysalisnetwork.org
Election Guide For Women's Rights - Brief voter guide by political science students & prof at U of Victoria through International Women's Rights Project. To inform voters & provide focusing questions for candidates, such as Inaccessible childcare continues to disadvantage women. What policies will you support to alleviate waitlists for childcare and what would you do to create affordable, accessible childcare? http://bit.ly/otdU7D
Youth and Harm Reduction Webinar - Canadian AIDS Society free session looking at current youth harm reduction programs & guidelines. Two 20-min presentations & Q&A. Tues 26 July 2011, 2 pm (NB time). Register [email protected]
A N.B. STUDY OF YOUNG WOMEN'S ENGAGEMENT IN POLICY-MAKING
Treating young mothers as experts because of their experiences with exclusion, domestic violence, and stigmatization stood in stark contrast to their usual social positioning as victims, or as young people whose behaviour and choices needed to be corrected. The connection between participants' identities and capacities as leaders affirms that participants' evolving understandings of leadership is an important component of leadership development with young women.
Young mothers are often socially and economically marginalized, and tend to be discussed as one homogenous, high-risk, deficit-based group. This leaves little, if any, room for considering young mothers as engaged citizens or leaders. The purpose of this article is to suggest that young mothers developed an increased sense of leader and collective efficacy, and participated as engaged citizens, during their involvement in a policy-focused participatory research project called Engaged for Change. However, because their self-advocacy efforts were often met with limited success, their development of leader and collective efficacy was tempered by limited external political efficacy Findings suggest that as the project progressed, participating young mothers felt more capable of working collaboratively, developed leadership capacity, and became more aware of their leadership skills. Findings also highlight participants' failed self-advocacy efforts.
- Excerpts from Complicating The Public In Public Engagement: Young Mothers' And Young Women's Engagement In Policy-Making, Leah Levac's dissertation towards a degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate Academic Unit of Interdisciplinary Studies, UNB, 2011. [email protected]
THOSE WHO STAYED AWAY
In N.B., 155,700 eligible persons did not cast a vote in the May 2, 2011 federal election - 74,100 men & 81,600 women (Women in N.B. usually have a higher voter turnout than men, but women aged 85+ have a very low voter turnout, even compared to men 85+).
Here are reasons given by New Brunswickers who did not vote:
- Not interested: 25% of women & 29% of men (includes those who felt their vote would not make a difference in the election results)
- Too busy: about 20% of both sexes (includes family obligations & work/ school conflicts)
- Their own illness or disability: 13% of women and 5% of men
- I was away: 11% of women & 13% of men (highest proportions in Canada after Nfld)
- Didn't like the candidates or the issues: 7% of both sexes
- I forgot: 4% of women and 6% of men.
- Special request to StatsCan for provincial breakdown by sex.
Reasons for not voting in the May 2, 2011 federal election, July 2011, http://bit.ly/o8p8wf
SISTERS IN SPIRIT RESEARCH RESULTS
The Native Women's Association of Canada have found 582 cases of missing or murdered Aboriginal women and girls to enter into their database as of March 2010. A study of the cases reveals that:
Aboriginal women and girls are over-represented among the missing and murdered in Canada. Between 2000 and 2008, they were 10% of all female homicides in Canada, despite the fact Aboriginal women make up only 3% of the female population. The majority of females in NWAC's database were murdered; 115 are classified as missing.
Over two thirds of the cases were in B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan.
More than half were under the age of 31. Many of them were mothers. Of the cases where this information is known, 88% left behind children and grandchildren.
Aboriginal females are more likely to be killed by a stranger than non-Aboriginal. Almost 17% of those charged were strangers.
About half of murder cases remain unsolved. Nationally, 53% of murder cases have been cleared by charges of homicide, while no charges have been laid in 40% of cases. The clearance rate for murdered women and girls ranges from a low 42% in Alberta to 93% in Nunavut.
The majority of cases occurred in urban areas. 70% of them disappeared from an urban area, and 60% were murdered in an urban area.
- Excerpts, What Their Stories Tell Us, Native Women's Association of Canada, http://bit.ly/pXgh0x
HOW EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTION ACTUALLY WORKS
A review of the most recent evidence shows that the main and possibly only mechanism of action of Levonorgestrel-alone emergency contraception is to prevent or delay ovulation. The evidence is strong that this method does not interfere with implantation of a fertilized egg. The International Consortium for Emergency Contraception and the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics have a revised factsheet on the mechanism of action of levonorgestrel-alone emergency contraceptive pills (LNG ECPs).
Emergency contraception is part of the package of modern contraceptive methods. Their availability is important for women who have experienced problems (missed a contraceptive pill, condom rupture, etc.) and fundamental to women who have been raped. However, misinformation about their mechanism of action is hampering access in many settings.
LNG ECPs do not interrupt a pregnancy (by any definition of the beginning of pregnancy). However, they prevent abortions by reducing unwanted pregnancies.
Emergency contraception is not the same as early medical abortion. LNG ECPs are effective only in the first few days following intercourse before the ovum is released from the ovary and before the sperm fertilizes the ovum. LNG ECPs cannot interrupt an established pregnancy or harm an embryo.
- Excerpts, 2011 Factsheet, http://bit.ly/mP7qpW
U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 2011 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT - Excerpts
Canada is a source, transit and destination country for men, women & children subjected to sex trafficking & forced labor. Canadian women & girls, particularly from aboriginal communities, are found in conditions of commercial sexual exploitation across the country. Foreign women & children, primarily from Asia & Eastern Europe, are subjected to sex trafficking; sex trafficking victims have come from China, Hong Kong, Fiji, Taiwan, South Korea, the Philippines, Romania, Ukraine & Moldova... Asian victims tend to be prevalent in Vancouver & Western Canada, while Eastern European victims are trafficked to Toronto, Montreal & Eastern Canada. Law enforcement officials report the involvement of organized crime in sex trafficking. Most suspected labor trafficking victims are foreign workers who enter Canada legally, but then are subjected to forced labor in agriculture, sweatshops & processing plants, or as domestic servants
There were at least 46 human trafficking cases prosecuted by courts as of late February 2011... These cases involved 68 accused & 80 victims... The government reported 2 convictions under trafficking-specific laws... Prosecutors convicted at least 7 trafficking offenders under other sections of the Criminal Code, incl. living off the proceeds of prostitution & sexual assault. Some judges & prosecutors were reportedly reluctant or unwilling to pursue human trafficking charges. Numerous cases of trafficking involving foreign victims have been investigated & prosecuted; none have resulted in convictions. Canada's law enforcement efforts reportedly suffer from a lack of coordination between the national government & provincial & local authorities.
Nothing about us without us ( Nihil de nobis, sine nobis )
- A long-standing principle of Hungarian law, recently popularized by South African disability rights and youth activists.