By Pam HadderHave equal opportunity programs in Canada outlived their value? Did they indeed ever have any true value? "The purpose of the Employment Equity Act is to ensure that federally regulated employers provide equal opportunities for employment to the four designated groups: women, Aboriginal peoples; persons with disabilities; and members of visible minorities." We've all heard the (very politically incorrect) jokes from those dismissed from government job recruits: "Now if only I were a bilingual, Asian-Aboriginal woman... with a limp"!
March 8, 2011 marks the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day, and looking back, at the past 93 years since Canadian women were first allowed to vote federally, the progress toward gender equality was been appallingly slow. It wasn't until 1982 that a woman sat in the Supreme Court of Canada, and the first Canadian Premier was not elected until 1991 (Rita Johnson, British Columbia).
Canadian women work longer hours for less pay than their male counterparts, and where families with children are involved, women manage the lion's share of the domestic chores. According to Statistics Canada, 73% of women with children under the age of 16 years are working full-time outside of the home. This is a figure that has skyrocketed in the past 20 years.
So there is no doubt of the financial contribution of women in Canada. On the up-side, the Canadian government is always diligent in collecting the same percentages of income tax from women as from their male counterparts! (Tax equality = gender equality?) Seems to me that the progress of women in Canada is a highly selective process, and that my XX chromosomal makeup is a serious deterrent.
Why are Canadian women seen as less valuable, less capable, less worthy? Our environment is littered with advertising and marketing that devalues the contributions of women; and most often if I mention this - even to other women - they look at me like I'm some raving loony from an alternate universe. Many women do not recognize what is inappropriate and that they should feel indignant and offended. Maybe both genders have become desensitized.
So, how shall I "celebrate" 100 years of women's progress? Shall I do a hundred of something? Call me crazy, but absolutely nothing comes to mind to celebrate. I just know that I am an equally-taxed, white female minority -- highly engaged, honourable and capable...and, it appears, quite invisible.
