Annual report card grades the B.C. government on its compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), ratified by Canada in December 1981

VANCOUVER — On October 16, 2014, West Coast LEAF released its 6th annual report card on women’s rights in BC. The CEDAW Report Card is West Coast LEAF’s annual assessment of how well BC is measuring up on international legal standards of women’s equality set out in the UN Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

Two weeks ago, the TV quiz show Jeopardy! included a category called “What Women Want.” [Image right: Jeopardy! ‘What Women Want’ category slammed as sexist.] While the makers of Jeopardy! would have us believe that all women want is a good pair of jeans and some help with the vacuuming, West Coast LEAF’s CEDAW Report Card details how well the BC government is measuring up on the things women really want: access to justice, economic security, affordable housing and child care, and safety for all. These are the building blocks of a healthy society, and unfortunately, BC is failing to deliver.

Failing grade for access to child care

For the first time, BC received a failing grade this year for its failure to provide meaningful access to child care. BC is the second most expensive province in the country for obtaining child care, and ranks lowest in the country for labour market participation of women with children aged 0-12. Despite government claims that a public child care system would be too expensive, evidence shows that BC’s lack of affordable child care options itself places significant limitations on the province’s economic growth.

“Access to affordable, quality child care would directly improve a number of areas highlighted in our report card: it would provide opportunities for women to earn income, provide for their families’ basic needs, including nutritious food and safe housing, and allow women to leave abusive relationships without fear of falling into poverty” says Laura Track, Legal Director at West Coast LEAF. “What women want isn’t a $50 tax credit to put towards their monthly child care costs or a tiny rent supplement to offset the high price of housing. Women want fair and equal access to publicly funded services that allow them and their children to live with dignity, security, and safety.”

Report Card released to coincide with Persons Day

The Report Card was released to coincide with Persons Day, the anniversary of the day on which a group of tireless advocates forced the courts to finally recognize that (some, mostly white) women in Canada were “persons” under the law. It wasn’t until 1960 that similar recognition was extended to Indigenous women in Canada. Indigenous women’s deep inequality is documented in numerous areas of this year’s report card, evidenced by high rates of poverty, ill health, and male violence committed against them.

“It’s significant that this year’s CEDAW Report Card is being released on the first day of the Raise the Rates annual Welfare Food Challenge, given the links between women’s poverty, poor nutrition, and negative health outcomes for women and their children,” says Track. “Ensuring women’s economic security is the first step towards creating a healthy and just society, and the government’s poor performance on this measure means they are failing women, families, and whole communities. We simply must do better.”

Ensuring women’s economic security is the first step towards creating a healthy and just society, and the government’s poor performance on this measure means they are failing women, families, and whole communities. We simply must do better. — Laura Track, West Coast LEAF

Highlights from the 2014 Report Card

• BC’s discriminatory child support claw back, which sees government take child support away from single parent families on income assistance, remains in force, with disproportionate impacts on women.
• The Legal Services Society continues to report acute and chronic underfunding that prevents it from meeting its statutory mandate to deliver publicly funded legal services to people with low incomes.
• Street homelessness in Vancouver skyrocketed this year. Almost twice as many people had no shelter on the day of this year’s Homeless Count, which always underestimates the extent of women’s homelessness in particular.
• More than a year and a half after the final report of the Missing Women’s Commission of Inquiry, the government’s progress on implementing the Commissioner’s recommendations—including an urgent recommendation to implement transit service along the Highway of Tears—remains painfully slow.
• BC is no closer to a provincial child care strategy, seriously undermining women’s economic empowerment. The BC Early Childhood Tax Benefit, which will provide families with $55/month for each child under age 6, does nothing to address to lack of affordable spaces and will barely make a dent in the financial burden of child care on families.
• No efforts have been made to address the appalling conditions endured by women in remand on Vancouver Island, despite calls from local mayors, police and community groups to maintain the Victoria Youth Custody Centre and open its unused areas to incarcerated women.

The full report can be downloaded (opens to PDF) at: http://www.westcoastleaf.org/userfiles/file/CEDAW%20Report%20Card%202014.pdf

We speak with Laura Track, legal director at West Coast LEAF.

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