Mr. Speaker, I have a number of petitions to present.
The first petition is from a group of individuals who wish the House of Commons to understand that it is estimated that 58% of all women over the age of 15 are part of the paid workforce and still are not getting equal pay for work of equal value; 56% of these are single parent families headed by women and half of unattached senior women, and they live below the poverty line, in addition to aboriginal women, women of colour, seniors, poor women and women with disabilities. They all face a deeper discrimination with regard to unemployment, lower wages, poverty and the despair that comes with that.
They call upon the Parliament of Canada to pursue policies that would ensure adequate funding and support for six fundamental areas that would dramatically improve the status of women in Canada: fairness for women at work; a better work-family balance; an end to violence against women; ensuring women are heard in public and in politics; fairness for marginalized women; and they wish us to champion equality for women around the globe.