Our Innappropriate Response to Women With Addictions

Do men and women use drug/alcohol differently; do they take advantage of addictions treatment programs similarly and with equal success?

A number of researchers have focused their attentions on these questions in the last decade. Among the things we learn from these studies: Biological differences between men and women do play a role in how substance use becomes a problem. Women with addictions problems are seriously underrepresented among those entering and successfully completing treatment programs.

Which would lead many to ask: What is it about women that makes it more difficult for them to admit they have a problem, get help for that problem, and stick to treatment? But the research is also telling us that we should instead be asking: What is it about society and treatment programs that make it more difficult for women to admit they have a problem, to get help for that problem, and to stick to treatment? Luckily, the researchers have been so kind as to provide us with some answers….

- Excerpt, column by Chairperson Ginette Petitpas-Taylor, Moncton Times & Transcript, 15 Nov. 2007. www.acswcccf.nb.ca/english/documents/Women%20and%20Substance%20Use%20900.pdf

We tolerate public bullying of women

Bullying at school or in the workplace is finally getting some attention. I've been thinking there are other places where bullying is tolerated and should not be.

On most Tuesday mornings, in front of the abortion clinic in Fredericton, women who want to go into the clinic must first go through a gauntlet of protesters, many of them large men, brandishing signs with bloody photos, urging them to repent and reconsider.

Some of us have taken this behaviour for granted. It's what happens. But it is bullying. It is dangerous and potentially traumatizing bullying that we should not accept, if only out of concern for public safety — if only so we, let alone children, don't take for granted that bullying is ok.

Full Story: Straight Goods

Additional Link: New Brunswick Advisory Council on the Status of Women

Thousands turned away from Alberta women's shelters

Thousands of people are being turned away from Alberta women's shelters due to a lack of resources and some women are returning to violent situations as a result of the dearth of affordable housing, a new report says.

The report, released today by the Alberta Council of Women's Shelters, showed 27,000 clients were turned away from women's shelters last year. Shelter staff try to place women in other shelters or arrange emergency stays in hotels when their facilities are full.

About half the people initially turned away from shelters in 2006 were children.

"Women's shelters serve just as many children as they do women," said Jan Reimer, the council's provincial co-ordinator. "The rights of children here in Alberta need to be respected and resources need to be allocated to women's shelters so they can do the work they need to do with kids."

The report also found a dramatic increase in the number of women who said they would return to an abusive situation due to the scarcity of affordable housing.

Women leaving emergency shelters are surveyed and asked where they will go, said Kate Woodman, the report's author. Researchers found a real increase in the last two years in women who said they would go back to their abusive situations due to a lack of housing options.

"Some say they will go to family members, some say they will leave the province and others indicate they're going to return to the abusive situation," Woodman said.

"Imagine, you've learned more about how to keep yourself safe, but because you can't get affordable housing you're going back to danger," she said. "Imagine what that does to you."

Woodman noted that 80 per cent of children that come to Alberta's 43 women's shelters have witnessed violence. The report stressed the need for resources to ensure children's well-being in shelters.

"There's a growing awareness in Alberta and across Canada that children resident in shelters are not simply add-ons to the women fleeing domestic violence," the report said. "These children are at high risk and need immediate, specialist and diverse services."

Reimer, the council's provincial co-ordinator, said Alberta's shelter system needs an extra $20-million per year to operate at its maximum capacity. More money would be needed on to fund programs to support children traumatized by domestic violence.

"Part of the misconception is that shelters are providing emergency accommodations only,"

Reimer said. "They do far more than that. They're doing women's groups and children's groups, they're working with batterers. ... Shelters do a lot of work that I don't think people often see."
Alberta's domestic violence indicators - including incidences of domestic assault and stalking - are among the highest of the Canadian provinces.

More than 13,000 women and children stayed in women's shelters last year. The average stay was approximately two weeks.

LINK: Who Cares?

Huguette Labelle--Trailblazer: A life of service, a world of change

She has had a long career of public service, played groundbreaking roles on behalf of women and spends half her time travelling the world representing international organizations. Yet it seems Huguette Labelle has just begun.

She was the first woman to head the Red Cross in Canada and the first francophone woman to rise to the position of deputy minister in the federal government. She advanced the cause of women as head of the Public Service Commission and was the longest serving president of the Canadian International Development Agency.

But Dr. Labelle hesitates to single out a particular position she has held, because she has been so deeply committed to each one that she has to be prodded to advance to the next. And for her, more opportunities and contributions lie ahead.

"The job I am in is always the best one," she says.

She advises women to be open to new opportunities and experiences. "Just do your best at what you're doing today, and people will notice."

Nunavut-Women easily plunged into homelessness: report

"Little Voices of Nunavut," from the Qulliit Status of Women Council, offers no figures about exactly how many women in Nunavut are homeless.

Instead, every woman in Nunavut is at risk of homelessness due to the high cost of living, overcrowded housing and high rates of addictions and violence, suggests the report.

"Every woman residing in Nunavut continually lives with the threat of one day having to survive without shelter," it says.

Abused, at the mercy of their partners and subject to addictions, Nunavut women may lose their jobs, be evicted from staff or social housing, and be forced to sleep outside, sofa surf at relatives' homes or have sex in exchange for a place to sleep.

"You go with this man even though you don't want to, you don't love him, you don't like him, but he has a bed to sleep on," says a woman interviewed for the report.

Many homeless women comfort themselves with alcohol or drugs to ward off their pain in cold weather.

"I've thought about hiring someone to beat me up just so I can stay at the women's shelter," says a homeless woman.

"Little Voices of Nunavut" complements a broader report on homelessness in the three territories - "You just blink and it can happen"- which was released last week in Ottawa.

The YWCA hopes this report will back their application for funding from the federal government for a pan-northern project to tackle homelessness in the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

The YWCA wants to work on providing more resources, such as more soup kitchens and food banks and emergency shelters, as well as programs to prevent poverty.

As it stands now, frustration, confusion, despair and anger are often directed against the shortfalls in government assistance and housing policies which favour non-Inuit and men, according to the women interviewed for "Little Voices of Nunavut."

"Our own Inuit organizations are the ones protecting the non-Inuit. I know my children aren't happy with their alcoholic father, he's just laughing at Nunavut justice because he slipped though the cracks," says a woman.

The report also looked at how homelessness affects children: "My kids turned out to be criminals. They never felt safe where they were staying. It was hard on them," says a woman.

More than 70 Inuit women from 14 communities contributed to the report. Most had children, received income support and had little education.

For copies of the three Territorial Reports, follow the available links below:

The Little Voices of Nunavut: A Study of women’s Homelessness North of 60 Executive Summary in French and in Inuktitut

Being Homeless is Getting to be normal: A Study of Women’s Homelessness in the Northwest TerritoriesEnglish ReportExecutive Summary in French

A Little Kindness would Go a long way: A Study of women’s Homelessness in the Yukon

November 25 - International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

November 25 commemorates the 1960 murders of the Mirabel sisters in the
Dominican Republic. Worldwide it also marks the beginning of 16 Days of
Activism against Gender Violence, including Canada's National Day of
Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women on December 6.

LINK: CNW

Sexual Harassment of ‘Uppity' Women:

A recent research study from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto finds that sexual harassment is a means of punishing women who blur gender distinctions.

Links: “The Sexual Harassment of Uppity Women,” by Jennifer L. Berdahl, University of Toronto, Journal of Applied Psychology, 2007, Vol. 92, No. 2, 425–437 (13 pages, PDF ); “The high price of gender blurring; 'Masculine' women more likely to be sexually harassed,” Jennifer Newman And Darryl Grigg, CanWest News Service, November 7, 2007.

Independent, assertive women with leadership qualities are often a company's top performers. That's the good news. The bad news, according to recent research, is women with these traits are more likely to be sexually harassed.

And of all the difficulties faced by women who take leadership positions or roles, sexual harassment -- sexual comments, unwanted sexual attention and sexual coercion -- is the most distressing, taking a harder toll on morale than office gossip or snide comments.

That's because the personality traits of independence, assertiveness and leadership that are considered successful in the business world are often viewed as "masculine" characteristics.
Conversely, traits such as being warm, modest and deferential, are thought of as "feminine" and generally not associated with leadership and assertiveness -- traits commonly paired with success in people's minds.

A recent research study found that sexual harassment is motivated by a wish to punish women who blur gender distinctions. Women coming up through the ranks or entering a traditionally male work environment may threaten some men's sense of security and status. The dynamic is similar to harassment of minorities who threaten a majority group's dominant position in the workplace.

Jennifer Berdahl, at the Rot-man School of Management at the University of Toronto, found that women who behaved independently and assertively and spoke out were more likely to be sexually harassed than women who fit feminine ideals of deference, modesty and warmth. Ms. Berdahl noted this was especially true in male-dominated workplaces.

In her study of 238 employees representing manufacturing plants and community service centres, the researcher found that in male-dominated workplaces, women who are "masculine" -- highly assertive, independent and dominant, or "androgynous" and who balance assertion and independence with warmth and humility -- experienced more than twice as much harassment as women who tend to meet feminine ideals of deference, caregiving and modesty. As well, these masculine and androgynous women experienced eight times as much harassment as men.

Climate Change is Far From Gender Neutral

On September 21, 2007, The Council of Women World Leaders (CWWL), the Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) and the Heinrich Böll Foundation North America organized a high-level roundtable entitled "How a Changing Climate Impacts Women" at the Permanent Mission of Germany to the United Nations. The roundtable was a landmark event, one of the first high-level sessions to focus on the linkages between gender equality and climate change.

The roundtable recognized that while there are no references to gender in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), climate change is far from gender neutral.

Participants shared experiences from Honduras, Senegal, Uganda, Thailand, Suriname, and the US (New Orleans) showing the gender dimensions of climate change and how women's participation is critical to developing solutions. The roundtable was a call to action, recognizing that gender equality is a critical component of responses to climate change at all levels of planning and decision-making.

Following the success of this event, the roundtable organizers are engaged in these next steps:

• The official report of the roundtable will be published in preparation for the UNFCCC COP-13 in December 2007.


• WEDO is organizing a workshop on "Adaptation and Gender Equality: Experiences from the South" in partnership with Heinrich Böll Foundation, UNDP, and ActionAid International, at COP-13 on December 10 at 8pm. The workshop is connected to WEDO's advocacy campaign in developing countries to incorporate a gender perspective in national adaptation platforms.


• The Council of Women World Leaders is organizing the International Women Leaders Global Security Summit in partnership with the Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands, the Women Leaders Intercultural Forum and the White House Project. The Summit, which incorporates the topic of climate change, aims to enhance the effectiveness of women's leadership on security concerns to illustrate a more integrated approach to critical issues of international security.


• Heinrich Böll Foundation is organizing a range of events at COP-13, including a side event on a programmatic CDM for Renewable Energies (in cooperation with Germanwatch); an event on "Greenhouse Development Rights" (with EcoEquity & Christian Aid); the "African Climate Appeal"; "Nuclear Energy: Myth and Reality"; and "Human Rights and Climate Change" organized by Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL).

The outcomes of the roundtable-including the summary report with speaker interventions, policy recommendations and endorsements, and participant list, as well as media coverage, audio interviews with Mary Robinson and Gro Brundtland, and photo gallery-are now available on the websites listed below.

Women's Environment and Development Organization
http://www.wedo.org/ ;
http://www.wedo.org/files/climatechange-orng
Council of Women World Leaders
http://www.cwwl.org/
Heinrich Böll Foundation
http://www.boell.org/

Changing the Climate: Why Women's Perspectives Matter
This resource draws the links between gender and climate change and lays out why women need to be at the center of the climate change debate and policymaking. A must-read for activists, academics and policymakers. Find out more

Wednesday Digest

EI short-changes women, study suggests: Canadian women are being unfairly short-changed by the country's Employment Insurance system, which was made more restrictive a decade ago and now boasts a multibillion-dollar surplus, a study concludes.The study for the left-leaning Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, to be released today, finds the qualification requirements for EI have left many women who lose their jobs out of pocket despite having paid their fair share of premiums.

NDP to set aside ridings for women, minorities in 2009 provincial election: The NDP have kick-started their election campaign with a pledge to put more women and minorities into the B.C. legislature.Although the next provincial election isn’t until 2009, NDP Leader Carole James said the enthusiasm that came out of the party’s weekend convention in Vancouver shows they are ready for a fight with the governing Liberals.

Social services in trouble: CUPE delegates meet: Social service workers from across thecountry will meet in Ottawa for three days this week to plan strategies forimproving public services and protecting their working conditions. Confrontedwith chronic underfunding, they will join forces to make their voices heardand to remind people that they offer vital services to children and othervulnerable persons. Françoise David, a feminist, environmentalist and social justiceactivist, and Linda Duxbury, a professor at Carleton University's businessschool, will address the delegates.

CBC wants more women: It's part of a strategy that Kirstine Layfield, CBC-TV's executive director of network programming, said will "diversify" the CBC audience, which has traditionally skewed male because of the public broadcaster's emphasis on sports and news programming.

Pay equity still voluntary in N.B. and most other jurisdictions: When New Brunswick university students held a bake sale where sweets were offered at $1 apiece to men and 80 cents to women, the organizers were trying to upset people."It was supposed to offend people because it is discrimination based on gender. So is pay inequity," said an organizer.

Program to help abused women on P.E.I.: Under the Safety Circles program, a network of police, counsellors, neighbours, employers and family work with women toward keeping them safe and in more in control of their situation

Parliament supports historic NDP Child Care Act: Following years of false starts, empty promises, and inaction from Liberal and Conservative governments, Parliament took a historic step and voted to support working and middle-class families by moving the NDP’s Early Learning and Child Care Act to third reading. “Today, all opposition parties joined with us to move one step closer to building the foundation for a truly national, non-profit, affordable and high-quality child care program,” said NDP MP Denise Savoie (Victoria).

A new United Nations report on the plight of children confirms what many Canadians already know – the Conservative government of Stephen Harper is content to let children fend for themselves, Liberal Social Development Critic Ruby Dhalla said today.

Advocates mark International Day of the Child with proclamations against spread of "big box" child care: "Reports from Australia highlight high parent fees, poor staff wages andworking conditions and examples of child neglect. A study by The AustraliaInstitute showed poorer staff to child ratios, insufficient food and less timefor children compared to community child care programs", says MornaBallantyne, coordinator of Code Blue for Child Care.

Helping her community, one member at a time: A prominent member of the Chemainus First Nation, Grace Elliott-Nielsen was a veteran social worker before deciding to devote her life to the needs of the native community through Nanaimo's Tillicum Haus Native Friendship Centre, where she has been executive director for 22 years

Action Needed in support of Jordan's Principle

On November 7 - F-email Fightback posted about Jordan's Principle - an anonymous poster provided the update below:

Please note that a private members motion in support of Jordan's Principle is expected to pass unanimously through the House of Commons on December 12, 2007.

This motion, although encouraging, does not bind the federal government to implement Jordan's Principle and sadly none of the provinces and territories have made any substantial moves to adopt and implement Jordan's Principle.

Your help is urgently needed - please do send letters to the Ministers of Health (Provincial and federal) and take a moment to go on line to sign the joint declaration in support of Jordan's Principle at http://www.fncaringsociety.com/ - individuals and organizations can register

Canadian Medical Association Journal Editorial supports Jordan's Principle - Read the Editorial Online

Five Ways to Make a Difference:

1. Register your individual or organizational support for Jordan's Principle which is a child first principle to resolving inter governmental jurisdictional disputes.
2. Help reshape the child welfare system so that it better supports Aboriginal children, youth and families by endorsing the Reconciliation in Child Welfare: Touchstones of hope for Indigenous children and youth.
3. Join Amnesty International Canada in putting an end to inequitable child welfare funding for First Nations children
4. Join us in supporting the Many Hands One Dream principles to guide improvements to Aboriginal health care resulting in healthier Aboriginal children and young people.
5. Learn how to respectfully engage young people in your organization's work by registering your support for the Declaration of Accountability on the Ethical Engagement of Young People and Adults in Canadian Organizations.

Dove (D)evolution?

Business Week writes: "The beauty company says it's helping improve young women's self-esteem, but its much-lauded ad campaign may not be sending the right message." The idea here is that the commercials are still encouraging us to judge the girls.

Truly empowered girls (and yes, this time we're talking about young females) should be allowed to want to change parts of themselves and you're not allowed to tsk your tongue or accused them of being fashion victims just because they want their appearance to represent them differently. It's like negative peer pressure versus actually giving girls a positive and constructive message.

HUH?

This opinion is held by The Girls of 3iYing - members of the strategic think tank that helps mass-scale brands become more relevant to new millenium girls. Founded by Heidi Dangelmaier, 3iying has contributed to everything from ground floor product development, branding, commercial storybarding, to interactive application design.

It smells like teen marketing...

Heidi writes: "But could Dove have done it better? Yes, by not reinforcing the age-old bias that says girls are weak."

This is so reminiscent of the Harper / Oda doublespeak on women's equality in Canada that preceded the erosion of child care, the court challenges program, women's advocacy, lobbying and research

Getting young women to assist the capitalists with branding and marketing ......wow.........how empowering!!

NOT!

Want more info on Heidi's "empowered girls"? Check out their Flip It is a series of videos like:

Who's to blame for rape?
Are you saying pregnancy is ugly?
What girl wouldn't enjoy a guy staring at her boobs?
Are you using sex to sell to 10-year-olds?
We only wash our hair to impress our ex
Laptops- just make it pink and leave it on the beach
and last but certainly NOT least: we don't want to subject our boyfriends to it either.

Women and Ontarioins are twits, says Sun columnist?

In a Sun Media column by Greg Weston on the recent SES poll results Weston decides to lash-out. The numbers were: Harper is well out in front at 37 per cent, Layton 17 per cent, Dion 13 per cent with the horserace numbers showing a virtual tie, at Cons 35 per cent, Libs 34 per cent, NDP 17 per cent.

Poor Greg is confused. What to do Greg? First target?

Women, who are more likely to vote Liberal:

If it were up to Canadian women, the Liberals would form a minority government and Dion would be the next prime minister.

BCer writes: "Go figure. Yeah Greg, women, tell me about it. But did you ever consider, perhaps the problem isn’t with women, but that the Conservatives haven’t been speaking to issues of importance to women? Nah, that can’t be it. It’s the women’s fault."

LINK: BCer in Toronto