|
BACK TO TABLE OF CONTENTS
COUNTER-OFFENSIVE BY THE STATUS OF WOMEN
REAL Women stirred up a hornet's nest in regard
to the federal Status of Women.
You will recall that when the new Parliament
opened last April, REAL Women sent a letter to "friendly"
MPs and the Cabinet, expressing our concerns about the Status
of Women agency, and the House of Commons Standing Committee
on the Status of Women, raising objections to their funding
feminist only organizations. We also questioned why the Status
of Women holds a Cabinet portfolio.
The bureaucratic response from the Minister
Beverley Oda's office was to dismiss our concerns outright.
We were furious and notified both Ms. Oda and also Prime Minister
Harper of the unacceptability of this response. Within two
weeks REAL Women was invited to attend a meeting with the
Minister (See REALity, March April 2006, page 3 and, "Status
of Women Opens Its Doors," July August 2006, page 5.)
This immediate response by the Conservative
government to our letters apparently spoke volumes to the
Status of Women bureaucracy. For the first time in the 33
years of its existence (it began under Trudeau in 1973), the
Status of Women realized that it was not in control of the
government's agenda on funding and other policies. Ominously,
the bureaucrats also realized that their future livelihood
might well be at stake in this debate, especially if their
activities came under scrutiny by the Conservative government.
This both infuriated and alarmed them.
Almost immediately, they began a counter-offensive
against REAL Women.
There is no one better placed administratively
to coordinate such a counter offensive than the Status of
Women, which has first-hand information on the issue, and
has, as a practical matter, on record, all the names and addresses
of feminist groups and shelters across the country. Also,
an application was made under the Access of Information Act,
requesting all documents relating to REAL Women's objections
to the Status of Women. The purpose of this application was
to expose (and pressure) MPs who have written to the agency
to support REAL Women and its perspective on the Status of
Women.
Since the documents to be released under the
Access to Information Act involved REAL Women, we were required
under the Act to acknowledge the release of these documents,
which we were invited to review before they were released.
During the review of these documents, we came across a departmental
memorandum, dated April 19, 2006, advising the regional directors
of the Status of Women of an important teleconference call
to be held later that day to discuss "REAL Women".
Shortly after that conference call conducted by the Status
of Women, feminist columnists began to attack REAL Women after
years of ignoring us. For example, former Globe and Mail reporter,
Heather Mallick wrote on the CBC website on June 29, 2006,
about the supposed threat that REAL Women was to women and
all that they have achieved in past years. She stated:
If REAL Women were successful, the result
would be bullying of these women: those wanting off welfare,
but who can't afford child care … poor women who need
abortions and women beaten to a pulp who are afraid to venture
on the street.
REAL Women has also received some nasty, even vile e-mails
and letters from feminists. The latter do not take a back
seat in viciousness to some of the e-mails we receive from
homosexual activists. (We keep these letters and e-mails all
on file for future use).
The theme of these many letters is that if
REAL Women's complaints about the Status of Women are acted
upon, then "shelters for abused women and children to
protect them from violence" would have to be disbanded.
Of course, there is no mention of the studies, which indicate
that half of domestic violence is instigated by women. The
letters also claim that women need the support of the Status
of Women to work for pay equity, marital property and senior
women's financial security, etc.
These issues, however, are matters of provincial
jurisdiction only. They do not fall within federal jurisdiction
and there is no reason why the federal government is funding
so generously these provincial issues and organizations. Further,
there is no reason why the Status of Women is included in
the Cabinet. Why don't the disabled or aboriginals have a
place at the Cabinet table? Why do "women" as a
group, have priority? Why not men? The argument that women
as a group require special recognition because they are "victims"
of a patriarchal society is long outdated. The vast majority
of women are capable, independent and perfectly able to make
their own decisions about their lives.
Yet, letters to MPs are flooding in, supporting
the purported vital work of the Status of Women. It is likely
that the issue of the Status of Women will also be used by
the opposition, encouraged by the public servants employed
by the Status of Women, to attack the Conservatives in the
next election, probably arguing that they are anti-women and
biased.
REAL Women's concerns about the Status of
Women however, continues to gain momentum and support especially
from conservative internet blogs. This intense support from
the bloggers was noticed by Canadian Press which published
an article on the large number of blogs supporting REAL Women.
The Canadian Press article ran in nine major daily newspapers
across the country and resulted in REAL Women having many
media interviews about the Status of Women funding. In short,
the Status of Women counter offensive backfired on it.
Canada has the most powerful feminist lobby
in the world, and this is entirely due to the fact that the
government - that is, the taxpayers - fund it. The feminist
grip on policies in Canada has been sustained for far too
long. No one has dared to criticize the Status of Women before.
The feminist lobby was hard at work in question
period on September 21, 2006 probing Minister Oda. Liberal
M.P. Marlene Jennings (Notre-Dame-de-Grace - Lachine) asked
that the Minister not jeopardize the survival and the work
of women's groups that represent thousands of Canadian women.
However, it was M.P. Belinda Stronach, (Newmarket
- Aurora) who got down right rude and insulting when she stated:
The Prime Minister's Chief of Staff,
Ian Brodie, has said that the organization, REAL Women,
raises, interesting points that warrant close inspection.
This is a group that is anti-choice, anti-gay, does not
support equality for women and wants to obliterate the Department
on the Status of Women. This group's website even has links
to sites that suggest that day cares do not care and homosexuality
is a psychological disorder.
With budget cuts on the horizon, who
is the minister listening to, Ian Brodie, the right-wing
organization, REAL Women, or will she stand up and defend
the rights of Canadian women?
I want to add that promoting equal rights
for Canadian women is never a waste.
In response to Ms Stonach's remarks the Conservative
MPs pounded their desks and called out "hurrah for REAL
women"
On September 25, 2006, the Conservative government
announced long overdue cuts to a number of government departments
including the Status of Women. The latter's budget was cut
by $5 million out of a budget of 23 million. It is an excellent
beginning on what we hope will be the eventual elimination
of the Status of Women.
BACK TO TABLE OF CONTENTS
|
