Status of Women committee  If women's voices were heard, if government representation in the House of Commons were 50% instead of 21%, and if the most marginalized women's realities were reflected in the policies and priorities of the government, we wouldn't all need to be here at all. I think that really speaks to why advocacy is necessary and why many organizations, like the ones I represent, are so concerned about the removal of the word “equality”, because that suggests that the government is now even more resistant than ever to the kind of work that is necessary to ensure that women do in fact realize substantive equality, not just legal equality on paper.

Status of Women committee  Really, that is the point I was trying to make when I talked about the history of the advancement. The advancements we have made over the last century have come through advocacy. Women got the vote because of advocacy. So many of the member groups of the Women's Future Fund--like LEAF, like NAWL, like Media Watch--that have advocated for systemic change, for policy and legislative change that would affect all women can't show how this is going to make this woman's life better right this minute, but in fact that advocacy work helps all women and changes all our rights.

Status of Women committee  Yes. Thank you very much. The Women's Future Fund, as I mentioned, is a coalition of, at the moment, nine national women's organizations. We are constantly receiving applications for other under-resourced women's organizations. Our membership is made up of board members from other organizations.

Status of Women committee  Thank you very much for your invitation. My name is Shari Graydon, and my role as president of the Women’s Future Fund is unpaid. I tell you this so you can appreciate that my goal is to make the organization obsolete, because once it's no longer necessary, I will have a lot more time to stick to my knitting.