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September 25th, 2018

NDP: Liberals Must Match Feminist Rhetoric With Action for Women’s Equality

While Canada marks Gender Equality Week, women continue to bear the brunt of decades of successive Liberal and Conservative government failures to invest in the systematic problems that undermine gender equality. Women would have more to celebrate if the Liberals actually got to work and fixed the fundamental inequality that remains all too prevalent in the lives of those who identify as women, with many of these challenges faced more deeply by senior, racialized, and Indigenous women.

“These leadership failures have had long-standing effects on women’s economic insecurity. We’ve been hearing heartbreaking stories that start with the lack of pay equity legislation: women earn less than their spouses, so when families can’t find affordable child care given the current childcare crisis across Canada, it’s women that stay home or drop into part-time, precarious work. And without EI and pension reform, women often age in poverty with no safety net or savings,” said NDP Women’s Equality Critic, Sheila Malcolmson. “The Prime Minister’s feminist agenda has been tested, and he’s failed to act with urgency to ensure Canadian women do not fall deeper into precarious work and poverty.”

After nearly three years in power the Liberal government has yet to introduce pro-active pay equity legislation, a National Childcare Strategy, a National Action Plan to end violence against women, or fundamental EI and pension reform that would benefit all women, including Indigenous women, racialized women, and women making lower-incomes.

“Despite the NDP's proposals, the government has not implemented any immediate measures to combat campus sexual violence, which particularly affects young women,” said Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP Deputy Critic for Women’s Equality. "Universal, affordable services and programs that benefit all women, no matter their age, ethnicity, or income bracket are the first step towards gender equality if this government truly wants everyone to benefit.”