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Feminist Recovery Plan: Waterloo Region Edition

MEDIA RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                                              September 29, 2020

THE FEMINIST SHIFT TO HOST PANEL ON FEMINIST RECOVERY PLAN FOR

WATERLOO REGION

WATERLOO REGION, Ontario – The Feminist Shift, a coalition of the YW Kitchener-Waterloo and YWCA Cambridge, is hosting an online event featuring panelists from the public, policy, academe and economic sectors who will be exploring the national feminist economic recovery plan and how it can inform to our region’s economic recovery.

The event will take place online on October 2 at 1:30 p.m.

The discussion springboards off of the recent report, A Feminist Economic Recovery Plan For Canada, authored jointly by YWCA Canada and The Institute for Gender And The Economy of the Rotman School of Management.

Panelists will include Anjum Sultana, National Director of Public Policy & Strategic Communications at YWCA Canada; Katherine Scott, Senior Economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Dr. Ginette Lafrenière, Associate Dean of MSW Programs at the Wilfrid Laurier University Lyle S. Hallman Faculty of Social Work; and Elizabeth Clarke, current Kitchener Councilor for the Region of Waterloo and CEO of the Kitchener-Waterloo YWCA.

“We can’t have an economic recovery that works for everyone without a gender-sensitive feminist approach,” says Anjum Sultana.

“We need to build back better by investing in the things that make life better for us all – child care, good jobs, affordable housing and income supports to allow people to live with dignity. Let’s use this moment to not just come back but transform our society for the better.”

The Feminist Shift’s Director of Advocacy, Jennifer Gordon, points out that COVID-19 has already begun what economist Armine Yalnizyan has dubbed a “she-cession.”

“Waterloo Region is seeing the same trends as we see nationally in terms of the impact this pandemic has had on cis and trans women and girls and gender diverse folks. We know that before the pandemic, women in Waterloo Region were more likely to be found working precariously in part-time and low-wage jobs, doing care work and that they represented a large number of the employees in some of the sectors hardest hit by the result of lockdowns. The precarious nature of women’s work in the region has only been exasperated by this pandemic, to the point where the Feminist Shift has serious concerns about how we recover.

“COVID has magnified these glaring issues in our local economy and subsequently our community well-being. The opportunity is now to re-evaluate how we approach our local economy and where we place our values as we rebuild, because right now there is an opportunity to rebuild our economy in a way that works for everyone, not just the lucky few.”

To register for the online event, find the Eventbrite registration link here.

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The Feminist Shift is a collaboration between YWCA Cambridge and YW Kitchener-Waterloo. It was formed with the goal of eliminating gender-based violence in Waterloo Region. They approach this by focusing their feminist discourse on basic rights (particularly as they relate to economic autonomy) as precipitating factors to violence. The Feminist Shift takes a strong systemic focus to their advocacy and aim to acknowledge those elements that contribute to violence in addition to tackling violence itself. Find out more at thefeministshift.ca.


For more information: Jennifer Gordon, Director of Advocacy, Feminist Shift, 519-590-5366, Jennifer.gordon@ywkw.ca