Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak on today's motion especially because it is International Women's Day. All members should keep this very important motion in mind.
I would like to make some comments today about the economy and women's place in that economy, not the place that is defined for us, but the place we define for ourselves. It is a place that is equal, just and co-operative. It is one that gives us choices and allows us to determine our own vision of who we are and who we want to become as individuals in society. I want to talk about what we can do as parliamentarians, as men and women in the House to bring about the fundamental change which is required if we are to make that vision a reality.
Many people get nervous when we talk about fundamental change. It is very threatening to some. All kinds of excuses will be put forth as to why we cannot bring about real change. Sure, maybe there can be a program or two, a pay raise here or there, but tamper with the big stuff, talk about structural change and the alarm bells go off. Obviously someone has a good thing going but it sure is not the women of Canada.
This is not to suggest we have not made extraordinary gains. International Women's Day is about some of those gains.
Today we look at our universities with some satisfaction. Half the undergraduate students are women. Forty-one per cent of medical students are female; 48 per cent of law students are women; and 47 per cent of business students are women. One-third of all businesses started in Canada are started by women. The success rate of those businesses is very high and exceeds those started by men.
In all other areas however, women still lag far behind. Only 17 per cent of university professors are women. Only 18 per cent of members of Parliament are women. Only 1 per cent of corporate executives are women and one of them was so successful she was named "Man of the Year". Women also continue to be grossly underrepresented in engineering and in the sciences.
Sometimes people ask me why we need to have 50 per cent female politicians, 50 per cent female engineers and so on. It is just common sense to me, common social sense and common economic sense. Our society can no longer afford to ignore the expertise and knowledge of half of our population.
Women have always played a key role in the economy as unpaid labour. This invisible cheap labour feeds and cares for the family, for the male paid workforce and raises future workers. It is called a labour of love. We know love is a part of it but so is exploitation.
Money too often has been the measure of worth in our society and because women's labour has not been paid it has been historically undervalued. Because that work has been undervalued, far too often women have not been valued. That lack of worth has a whole array of consequences going beyond our lower paycheques. Women still make 69 cents on the dollar of men in our society.
We see it as well in the lack of commitment to women's health care needs and the controversies over breast implants, breast cancer and the overmedication of women. We see it in continued violence against women, victims of abusers in a too often abusive society. We see it when a woman cannot get the police to enforce a peace bond against her violent partner, yet the laws are always there to protect property in times of strikes. We see it in the twisted notion that somehow rape is not a war crime. That is changing to some extent but we recognize how much more there is to do. We see it in sexual harassment being treated as a joke by some.
That is the kind of thinking which has to be challenged and changed. Who is making the rules? Who says it has to be this way and who says it cannot be changed? Many people who have profited from the way things are are the ones who are saying it cannot be changed.
Some people will remember when slightly under 10 years ago former member of Parliament Margaret Mitchell mentioned in the House that one in ten women suffered from spousal assault and many members laughed. We have a way to go. Today people would not laugh. We have to go beyond the rhetoric to implementing real programs and take the trend in attitudinal change into real action. The reality is that the world has changed in many ways. Society has changed. It is time for politics to catch up.
We know child poverty is a tremendous problem and shame to Canada. We have been sanctioned by the United Nations for child poverty. Poor children have poor parents. In Canada unlike many of our trading partners 58.4 per cent of single parents, the vast majority of whom are women, still live in poverty. Opportunities and choices are too often denied to them. It is not because people say they do not value the family. It is because the structural changes that would fundamentally attack these issues in our society have not been made.
There are three important ways to broaden these choices and to expand those opportunities. They are pay equity, employment equity and a national child care program.
I would like to deal with the issue of child care. No doubt there is a link between the ability of women to participate in the workforce and the availability of accessible, affordable child care.
In a past career I worked for a children's aid society. After a number of years I was struck by the view that our society is not a very child loving one. We do not structure our society in a way that values our children and our future. The lack of this reasonably rich and resourceful country to come to terms with the need for affordable, accessible child care is one example of our failure to value families and children.
Child care is not a charity issue. In many ways it is not a social issue. It is an economic issue. It must not be seen solely as a woman's issue. Child care is the responsibility of everyone in society. It is central to the functioning of our economy. Looking at studies from other countries it is very easy to see the correlation between the availability of child care and the ability of women to participate in the workforce.
Other important steps can be taken to ensure women's economic equality. Labour legislation can be passed making it easier for workers to organize in sectors where women predominate and where work is very often part time, casual or temporary.
We can take it upon ourselves as legislators to see that part time workers, whose numbers are increasing and a large percentage of whom are women, receive adequate pensions and other benefits to ensure a more stable future.
There can be labour standards with flexible and comprehensive leave policies that recognize family responsibilities and the rights of same sex couples.
We hear much from different parliaments, not just in Canada but abroad as well on the question of family values. I ask each person today to examine their consciences in terms of how our actions show we care about families. If we really cared about families we would have child care. We would have appropriate labour legislation. We would ensure the family is valued not by rhetoric and not by simply longing for the long past nuclear family, if it ever existed, but by recognizing the situation as it is today and valuing the choices people make and valuing our children.
We can have a clear definition of sexual harassment in labour legislation. The legislation can set clear policies for handling complaints and discipline.
On the economic front we can make low interest rate loans more readily available to co-operatives and small businesses, many of which give women a greater say in their own economic future.
We can find ways to value unpaid work. We can encourage young women and girls to study math and science. We can include women's studies as part of core curriculum and ensure post secondary courses accommodate women's needs.
We can provide training programs to move women into trades and technologies. Those programs can be made available to women in both rural and urban areas.
I would like to say a word about the focus needed for women in rural areas. The availability of training and educational opportunities is often more difficult. It is something our society has not really come to terms with. Our rural economy and the needs of rural women must be a focus for members of the House.
We must ensure as well there are adequate old age security and income supplements so that older women do not have to live in poverty. Older women make up a disproportionately large percentage of those living in poverty.
We can build more low cost housing so that women have a safe place to call home. We can make sure that health care meets the needs of women, not just those of drug companies. Women must be given choices in those health care needs. That means more funding for planned parenthood, more research into safe and effective contraception and ensured access to abortion services not just in urban hospitals but in community based clinics across Canada.
True economic equality for women will come about only through these and other initiatives. That economic equality will go some way in addressing the imbalance of power between women and men in our society, an imbalance that contributes to violence against women.
We will not be safe, be respected, get child care, get equal pay or get better health care unless we as women and men, as parliamentarians and decision makers, take leadership on these issues. Too often there has been a tendency for the House not to take leadership on these issues.
I must say many men in this House have supported the kinds of equality measures I am talking about. It gives me great hope that together we can accomplish the kind of equality which will enhance our society, our families and our country. Equality and social justice require a true commitment not just from governments, not just from parliamentarians but from society as a whole. As parliamentarians we have a role to play. We help to formulate legislation which very often not only addresses inequities but leads the way. It takes more than that; zero tolerance for violence in our society for example.
There is much we can do outside the House to support and promote equality for women. As women, we have to value our own experiences because sometimes we undervalue them, and recognize that someone who runs a home can very likely run a business or a country.
Second, I would say that those of us who have had some small success in our careers have a responsibility to be mentors to younger women who will follow us. It is by our example that we can begin to redefine what is of worth in our society.
I have had the opportunity to speak over the last six years on International Women's Day, both in the House and across the country. We have seen many sad things in the House as well that we have acknowledged having taken place. All of us remember the Montreal massacre, and it was of credit to the House that members supported December 7 as an official day of mourning.
These are important statements that have been made by parliamentarians. Today is the day we should rededicate ourselves, men and women, to use the power we have, in the House and outside, to promote true equality.
I have been involved for many years in the women's movement and I know that words do not change much, but the language we use can change the way we think about things. We have had some rather regrettable examples in the House of Commons where people forgot that. It does matter what we say; it does matter what we do.
I believe the issue of women's equality is inextricably linked to the equality of everyone in our society-aboriginal people, visible minorities, persons with handicaps-and that when we tolerate structural inequality, as I believe we have at the moment in our society, we are ignoring a very basic political fact. Today we look at what is happening in South Africa where racial injustice was not only ignored but was promoted for many years. It affected every person in that society. It affected international relations.
We do not necessarily have a sterling record on women's equality internationally. Members will remember that last year Canada was deemed the number one country by a United Nations report, the best place to live under a whole series of criteria. It also added that if the status of women was factored in we dropped to eighth.
As the debate went on, I noticed that report was used to say, quite rightly, that we are that kinder, gentler society that others might long for. I rarely heard anyone mention the equality of women and the second part of the report which made a very negative observation about our society.
My party supports the motion put forward by the Official Opposition. However we would like to see parliamentarians do more than simply support it verbally by giving speeches, but by what we do and what we undertake to do as individual members of Parliament and as political parties.
People will recall that during the previous session of Parliament some of the recommendations of the Electoral Reform Commission were accepted. One section was not and I would like to suggest to the government that it show its commitment to equality. The Electoral Reform Commission recommended that political parties receive a rebate based on the number of women they nominated as candidates. That acknowledged an acceptance of the fact that we do not have sufficient numbers of women in political life.
I would also like to see the government restore core funding to women's centres that provide many of the services, often sadly at a fairly low wage rate, to the communities across the country which help to deal in preventive, educative and counselling ways with the issues which most people here I am sure will say they are concerned about: violence against women in our society, poverty, and so on.
I would make a plea for the government not just to give a nice speech today but to acknowledge the contribution of women: women who run transition homes, women's centres, counselling centres, and what that means to our society as a whole.
In conclusion, in supporting the motion I would like to say that International Women's Day is not a day simply for women. It is a day when we can recommit with actions, and in this forum with legislation, that truly will work toward redressing the imbalance between men and women in society.
We have seen positive changes over the years. I am pleased that many men share the goals that we who have worked in the women's movement for equality for many years have promoted. Only together and through our role as parliamentarians can we show the rest of the country that the leadership, the elected members, take the motion seriously, will act on it and not just support motions but support legislation when needed.
