ONTARIO COUNCIL ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2006

May 12th & 13th, 2006
Holiday Inn, Burlington, Ontario
Host: CFUW Burlington

Theme: Celebrating Lives of Girls and Women

Morning Panel Discussion - Celebrating Women

Women’s achievements and challenges were explored by three dynamic speakers:

Ruth Bell, past CFUW president, and winner of the Governor General’s Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case and honorary degree from Carleton University for her contributions to national and international organizations promoting women’s causes;
Bonnie Diamond, executive director of MATCH International, and former executive director of the National Association of Women and the Law, and
Alia Hogben, executive director of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women.

Ruth Bell related her 50 years in and out of CFUW, reminding us of the situation for women in the 50’s and 60’s, when women were routinely discriminated against because of sex, age and marital status.

Women were not represented in the executive suite, the principal’s office or the ranks of senior academe, and married women faced employment restrictions. She particularly noted banks: women needed their husband’s approval to open safety deposit boxes, and women bank employees had no pensions.

During her time in CFUW Ottawa, Ms. Bell worked to bring about improvements, and to help women take their place as business executives, school principals, heads of community colleges, as well as members of boards, including those of banks, commissions and committees.

She is a strong advocate for volunteerism, and applauds CFUW for its work for women’s equality.

Bonnie Diamond examined women’s lot in the context of the constitution. When women¹s equality rights were traded to the provinces in the 1982 constitution, women and women’s groups of all political persuasions joined in a successful effort to have women’s equality rights enshrined in the constitution without being subject to override with the inclusion of Sections 15 and 28 in Part l of The Constitution Act, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

This was considered a triumph at the time, but the results today are not what were expected. The definition of equality is narrow, and while some women have gained, others have lost: there is still a wage gap (wages of women employed full time are 70% of those of full-time male employees), and aboriginal women, women of colour and immigrant women do not enjoy the benefits of equality.

Ms. Diamond feels that women must re-engage the spirit of 1982 to combat government policies that disadvantage women, notably in the areas of child care and reproductive rights (an area that she feels will come under increasing threat in the coming years), and that we must fight policies designed to send women back to the kitchen.

Alia Hogben’s Canadian Council of Muslim Women was formed in 1982 to affirm to Muslim women that their religion is based on law, that the Koran assures equal rights, and that women may participate fully in everyday life. She sees these ideals now under siege worldwide, and recent attempts to institute Sharia law in Ontario an ominous sign of a spreading threat to women’s equality rights. She insists that women’s rights cannot be trumped by religious freedom.

Ms. Hogben’s group was instrumental in the creation of the No Religious Arbitration Coalition (of which CFUW/Ontario Council was a member) and in the fight which led to the ultimate removal of all religious arbitration from family law in Ontario. She praised the outpouring of support received from women’s groups in general (and the Ontario Council in particular) as a demonstration of the power of women to create change.


Afternoon Panel Discussion

Celebrating the Lives of Girls and Women - Nurturing the Body, Mind and Spirit.

Dr. Sheri Findlay, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, McMaster University
Professor Geraldine Voros, lecturer, McMaster University
The Reverend Allison Barrett, First Unitarian Church, Hamilton

Dr. Sheri Findlay of McMaster University spoke to the body. She told us that the number one wish of girls, aged 11 to 17, is to lose weight. While 95 per cent of these girls do not have an eating disorder, they do have negative self esteem.

To the question, "What can we do?", Dr. Findlay suggested helping girls get connected. When girls are connected to their schools, communities and families they are less likely to engage in risk behaviours like dieting, drugs, early intercourse and dropping out of school.

She also talked about women being better role models and fathers never commenting on women's weight - especially that of their daughters - as these comments have life long effect on girls' self-esteem.

Professor Geraldine Voros, also of McMaster University, spoke to the issue of the mind. She talked about Canada's being named - three years running - the number one place in the world to live (remember we lost it last year due in part to the way in which our aboriginal women live).

Prof. Voros said that one of the important deciding variables that contributed to Canada receiving this honour was the level of women's education in Canada. "We are different than our American sisters. In 1982, women were entrenched in the Constitution - not so in the US." In a 2004 survey in Canada, 18 per cent of women thought that men should be the master in the house. The survey results were very different in the United States: 42 per cent (1992), 44 per cent (1996), 49 per cent (2000) and 52 per cent (2004) thought the man should be the master.

She talked of the "stellar resilience" of Canadian women - many of whom she has had the pleasure to teach. "When we have unfinished business, we can finish it." She spoke of resilience of motherless daughters, and incest and abuse victims. These women need allies and they find them.

The Reverend Allison Barrett of the First Unitarian Church in Hamilton spoke to the spirit of women.

Rev. Barrett said that there is no one way to be a mom, women, or sister. We have freedom - not to be what others expect of us. We need to encourage our daughters, sisters and ourselves to imagine beyond that which we have seen.

We honour our spirit when we find sisters (not necessarily by birth). Women connected to other women have less heart disease and cancer; men connected to women likewise have less heart disease and cancer; but, this protective factor is not present in men to men relationships.

She spoke of a ceremony that is held for young women in her church. It is a ceremony that gives those present the freedom to own, care for, and/or manage their own heart, mind body and soul. Sounded very liberating!

All three women left us inspired and challenged. The Ontario AGM's theme, Celebrating the Lives of Girls and Women, was timely and well received.

Lynn Franklin
CFUW-Milton