EDMONTON -- Six recommendations have been sent to the provincial government by Alberta’s YWCA chapters to assist the province in applying a ‘gender-lens’ to their economic recovery plan.
The group says women and girls have been disproportionately affected by the worldwide pandemic by increased gender based violence, unpaid labour, and job losses.
The YWCA urges the government to build an inclusive plan that removes barriers to women participating in the workplace. The six recommendations include:
- Establishing a Childcare Task Force
- A strategy to attract women and gender diverse people into Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics jobs
- Top-up pay for front line workers
- Financing for municipal governments
- Addressing the rise in racial and gender based violence
- Sustainability for the civil society sector
“An unprecedented event like this, you need unprecedented change” says Katherin O’Neill from YWCA Edmonton. “This is an opportunity to look at and rethink everything we’re doing and I think we’re seeing that across the board in many communities around the world where people are saying ‘does this work? And if its not working, how do we make it better?’”
Behind the recommendations is the YWCA’s hope that all decision-making panels and committees dealing with the crisis and relaunch include an equal number of women and gender-diverse persons.
