Feminist/Women's Movement

May May 16/07 meeting at Colleen's

In attendance: Colleen, Katherine, Lisa, Alison, Clemence, and Kirsty.

Discussion:
We talked about the ways that women’s issues have changed in the last 3 ½ decades, the social changes that have been accomplished, and what has recently happened – both in 2001 with major provincial cuts, and recently with federal cuts to Status of Women. On both levels the cuts have meant that there are no operating funds available to women’s organizations, and all that remains funded are piece-meal programs and services (i.e. violence programs, victim assistance, etc) that put the women running them in a constant state of re-applying for funds because they’re all contract and need to be renewed annually or bi-annually. The SWC cuts mean that there is no longer any capacity for acting as the government watch-dog vis-à-vis gender issues. All that remains funded are some of the direct programs that were in place. On both levels the cuts were rationalized because of “inefficiencies” and infighting in the women’s movement.

At this meeting we discussed how policy is made, how change happens in the government, and Alison had a lot to share from her own experiences about having ongoing conversations around a particular topic to the point that someone (who exactly?) decides that something needs to be done, and then the wheels are set in motion. We thought it may be interesting to devote a full meeting to this very topic.

Action: letter.