Held: October 2nd, 2020- 1:30- 3 pm (online)

This panel style learning event collided feminist theory with economics, public policy, and macro social work, to explore further what a feminist focused recovery from this pandemic could look like in Waterloo Region and how it can positively impact the wellbeing of our community.

This workshop built upon the robust report completed by YWCA Canada and The Institute for Gender and the Economy at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and brought concepts from the federal and provincial level down through to a municipal focus, modelling tangible ways we can adapt a recovery of this kind in our local community.

Read the YWCA Canada Report: A Feminist Economic Recovery Plan: Making the Economy Work for Everyone

Panelist Bio’s:

• Anjum Sultana: Anjum is the National Director of Public Policy & Strategic Communications at YWCA Canada, the country’s largest and oldest gender equity organization. The YWCA federation has 32 member associations and works in 300 communities across Canada. Together, they reach over 330, 000 people every year. Some key areas of focus for the organization include child care, economic justice, gender-based violence, housing and homelessness. Anjum is the Primary Author and Operations Lead for ‘A Feminist Economic Recovery Plan: Making the Economy Work for Everyone’, the first nationally-focused recovery plan of its kind. Anjum holds a Masters in Public Health from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. She is a frequently cited expert and her commentary has been featured on platforms such as Apolitical, CBC, CityTv, CTV, First Policy Response, Healthy Debate, National Observer, New Canadian Media, Public Policy Forum, The Walrus, Toronto Sun and TVO.”

• Katherine Scott: Katherine is a Senior Economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and serves as the director for its gender equality and public policy work. She has worked in the community sector as a researcher, writer and advocate over the past 20 years, writing on a range of issues from social policy to inequality to funding for nonprofits. She is passionate about research that speaks to the aspirations of communities and supports collective action for change.

• Dr. Ginette Lafrenière: Ginette is the Associate Dean of MSW Programs at the Lyle S. Hallman Faculty of Social Work. She is also an Associate Professor and Director of the Social Innovation Research Group and the Manulife Centre for Community Health Research. She has a Master’s degree in the Management and Development of Co-operatives and worked for 10 years in the co-op movement in Ontario and Quebec in the 1990’s. She is one of the founding members of two housing co-operatives as well as a feminist research collective while engaged in her doctoral studies at McGill University where her research was focussed on exploring determining factors influencing women’s community organizing experiences. Dr. Lafreniere believes that community social workers and educators can play a pivotal role in advocating for innovative strategies addressing structural inequities and barriers to women’s economic empowerment.

• Elizabeth Clarke: Elizabeth is the CEO of the Kitchener-Waterloo YWCA, and a current Kitchener Councillor for the Region of Waterloo. She has worked for 30 years as a social worker and social work manager and administrator, and has spent her career in the not-for-profit sector. Elizabeth has a master’s degree in social work, with a focus on social policy and administration, and has completed Wilfrid Laurier University’s post-graduate management and leadership certificate. She also serves as the chair for the Region of Waterloo’s Community Services Committee.