Madam Speaker, today on International Women's Day I ask the House whether women are truly advancing in our society.
I use three key measures through which we might decide the answer to that question. The first one is with regard to poverty and women. Latest statistics demonstrate that over 58 per cent of female led single parent families live in poverty and over 45 per cent of unattached elderly women continue to live in poverty.
The second measurement is violence against women. Every 17 minutes there is a sexual assault committed in Canada, 90 per cent of those victims are women, the rest are children. That means three assaults during the time of question period.
Finally turning to employment and women, women in full time work still earn less than 70 per cent per hour of what men earn. We must have, and I challenge the government to bring in, a full national child care program to assist women and men in our society and to put special emphasis on visible minority, aboriginal and immigrant women who suffer double discrimination in our society.