Alright, Now What?

After a swift campaign period, the federal election has wrapped up and the results are in. What do they actually mean when it comes to gender justice matters? What policy decisions and changes do we need to keep pushing forward with, especially at this time when gender equality gains in Canada are so at risk, especially for marginalized women? Anuradha Dugal, VP of Community Initiatives at the Canadian Women’s Foundation, shares some initial reactions and provides helpful insights.

The September 20th federal election approaches fast and furious. What does it mean to "vote for gender justice" this time around? Ann Decter, Senior Director of Community Initiatives and Policy at the Canadian Women's Foundation, shares key issues for us to think about as we lift our pencils at the polls. She tells us what Up For Debate, an alliance of women’s rights and gender justice advocates, is all about. Plus, she gives us insight on why the votes of women and gender-diverse people matter so much in Canada ... even if your favourite candidate loses.

New legislation about gendered pay inequity will go into force on August 31, 2021. But there are still those who say that a gender pay gap doesn't exist in Canada at all. We're joined by Dr. Sarah Kaplan, Director of the Institute for Gender and the Economy and Distinguished Professor of Gender and the Economy and Professor of Strategic Management at Rotman. She addresses what the gender pay gap really is and what needs to happen to end it.

Experiences of homelessness are not a monolith; women and gender-diverse people may have unique experiences and unique challenges when faced with situations of housing precarity. But the lack of recognition, investment in, and tailored responses to these experiences has contributed to the ongoing invisibility of women's homelessness.

Following on the heels of the encampment evictions at Lamport Stadium in Toronto, our host Emma Partridge sat down with Khulud Baig (Women's National Housing and Homelessness Network) and Kaitlin Schwan (The Shift) to explore the ways we have failed the unhoused community in Canada and what an intersectional, human-centred response to homelessness would involve.

Technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) occurs at shockingly high rates and has a devastating impact on those targeted. From the doxxing of public figures to the harassment of ordinary folks on social media, TFGBV can take many forms and abusers have a number of tools at their disposal.

We sat down with Rosel Kim and Pam Hrick of the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) to discuss the recommendations for addressing TFGBV that came out of LEAF's Deplatforming Misogyny report. To read the report, please visit: www.leaf.ca/publication/deplatforming-misogyny/

We are joined by social justice lawyer and advocate Fay Faraday and Vice President of Community Initiatives at the Foundation Anuradha Dugal to discuss the intersection of paid sick leave and gender. We explore the devaluing of living things within a for-profit, capitalist system and the ideological barriers that promote resistance to paid sick leave and other worker-centred policies.

We've all seen the news about abuses in the military, but the problem of sexual harassment in Canada goes far beyond any one industry. On today's episode, we're asking the question; why are some industries so much worse for sexual harassment? To explore this with us, we're joined by author and women's rights advocate, Julie S. Lalonde, and Research and Training Director of AfterMeToo, Kate Cornell.

Further reading:

On the first episode of this season, we're tackling the question—why do Mothers still take on the bulk of childcare, and what is this doing to their mental health and job prospects? We look beyond stereotypes to the underlying policy and economic reasons for this pattern.

In April, the federal government unveiled a federal budget that includes historic investment in childcare, action on gender-based violence, and other issues of relevance to gender equality matters in Canada. This bonus episode discusses some of the major elements of that budget and what the implications might be moving forward into the future.

In this final episode of the season, we talk about how to consistently build accountability and equity into our feminist fundraising and investing practices going forward, with guest Nadia Djinnit from the Cooperation Council of Ontario.