Our politicians should strive to get a clearer picture on what makes a “women’s issue.”
They must try to understand the multi-layered misogyny that has crept through our society, placing Canada in a shameful 19th place (out of 142 countries) when it comes to gender equality.
This according to a 2014 World Economic Forum study that actually showed a slight improvement from 2012 and 2013.
In my view, immigration from patriarchal societies in recent decades goes a long way to explaining this poor showing in the rights of women in Canada.
These societies, or at least significant portions of them, enshroud women in burkas, consign them mainly to the home and deny them careers.
At the University of Toronto Monday, federal election candidates discussed many so-called women’s issues, including a national child care program, women’s maternal health, domestic violence, equal pay, greater representation of women in politics and the many unanswered questions surrounding missing and murdered aboriginal women.
One panelist, lawyer Katherine Hensel, challenged the definition of a “women’s issue.”
She said to portray child care, for example, as a women’s issue, is sexist.
She’s right: Such an issue affects society as a whole, impacting both men and women.
If child care, however it is provided, works well in a society, it contributes to social cohesion.
If it works badly it can create inequality and inefficiency.
There is another issue, a crucial one, for all the leaders of Canada’s national parties to take a deeper look at.
That is female genital mutilation (FGM), which is horrifying and should concern everyone in our society, although it specifically affects women’s health and well-being.
Anecdotal evidence suggests FGM is practiced here by a significant number of immigrants from countries where girls have suffered this fate for centuries.
There are no statistics on FGM. It happens in the shadows and there are even reports that young girls are being sent abroad to have the procedure performed on them.
Canada’s law is clear on FGM.
Following an amendment by the federal government in 1997, the criminal code regards FGM as aggravated assault under section 268(3), for which a perpetrator may be liable to a fourteen-year sentence.
Parents who subject their daughters to the practice can be charged, according to this law.
They can also be charged as a party to an aggravated assault if they have the procedure performed on their child by another person.
So what has gone awry? Why are we still getting reports of this butchery?
For one thing, the secrecy surrounding the practice prevents better enforcement of the law.
The fact that FGM continues to destroy the lives of girls as young as 10, putting them at serious risk of infection or even death, warrants a second look to see how abusers can more easily be prosecuted.
This horrific abuse centres on women’s rights, but clearly it impacts on the rights of children as well.
Should the federal government run educational programs to condemn this barbaric practice and encourage its abhorrence in immigrant communities who come from countries where it is common?
Should a national help line be established for children who are at risk?
What is a given is that greater public transparency on this issue will bring more effective enforcement against a crime that has no place in Canada.