Social Work: Guided by Purpose. Inspired by Possibility.
Date: Tuesday, March 15th Time: 6:30 to 8pm
Location: The Community Room @ MOSAIC - Ground floor -
1720 Grant St. Vancouver
Open to BCASW members and Non-members
The branch is honoured to have two inspirational social workers, Hugh Millar and Patsy George, come speak to us and talk about their careers and advocacy work over the course of their lives.
Hugh Millar has spent 40 years working in social services, over half of that in the voluntary sector. Through his professional employment and volunteer activities Hugh has had extensive involvement in the full spectrum of social, educational, recreation and health services for families, children, students and the elderly. Hugh has been engaged in local, provincial and national initiatives in a variety of direct practice, management and policymaking roles.
Patsy George has had a distinguished career in social work all over Canada. She has worked in the community, as a medical social worker and held management positions in Child Welfare, Public assistance, and Community development. She is a former President of the BCASW, Director of Stephen Lewis Foundation and President of United Nations Association in Canada , Vancouver branch and is a recipient of the Order of Canada.
Please join us to hear about the work and advocacy of these two leaders in social work and become inspired about the possibilities for your own career in social work and beyond.
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Quest for peace and equality: Patsy George's 2011 international women's day speech
What an honour for me to celebrate the 100 years of IWD with you, members and guests of the University Women's club.
Congratulations are in order to the International Federation of University Women, because, you were there along with other women's organizations in 1919 at the founding of the League of Nations and the International Labour organization. Your representatives were active participants when the dialogue for equality and peace began at the global level.
It was not until 35 years later at the founding of the UN; some of the proposals you put forward in 1919 got noticed by various governments. So, the world had to wait until 1946 to see the establishment of UNESCO, WHO etc to address the issues of education and health care in addition to the issues of disarmament and arms control, which became the fundamental elements of UN work from the outset.
Thanks go to your representatives along with other women's groups who had a significant impact on the wording of the Universal Declaration of Human rights in 1948. The article 1 of the declaration reads" all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights" instead of the original draft which said "all men are born free etc.". It took extensive debate to erase the word 'men' when referring to all people. Women argued that the word men represents gender and not the species, it therefore excluded women. Your organization was there to make it happen.
IWD is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. It honours the work of the suffragettes and women peace activists, and reminds us of the inequities still to be redressed. UN has set the theme this year 'Equal Access to Education, Training, Science and Technology: Pathway to Decent work for women"
The history of IWD is the story of women making history for equal opportunities to participate on equal footing with men. They marched for the right to vote, right to hold public office, right to work, to vocational training and to end discrimination. The tragic fire at the Triangle shirt factory in New York which took the lives of 140 immigrant women brought significant changes to the labour codes and working conditions in the US and Canada .100 years later, the struggle continues in all parts of the world. I want to review briefly the history of the struggle for equality in our own country.
The women in BC got the right to vote in 1917 but if I were living here then, I would have to wait another 3 years to get the right to vote as minorities and aboriginals were excluded from voting. The First Nations had to wait until 1960 to get the right to vote.
Laura Sabia, then the President of the Canadian Federation of University Women is the one who called for the establishment of a Royal Commission on the status of women in Canada. Story is told that she had to threaten, Mike Pearson, then the PM that she would bring 2 million women to the Hill and the PM gave in.
We know that the report of the commission was significant for most women in Canada even though the issues of immigrant women and racialized women were not included. For example, the issue of Aboriginal women loosing their status when marrying out side the community was ignored even though it was one of the main points presented to the commission.
Out of that experience of the Royal Commission on the status of women, came all the local Status of women committees across the county getting women active at the local and national level. The National Action Committee was established to pressure the government to enforce the findings of the commission. Those of you who knew Rosemary Brown will remember that her own interests in political office started here along with many other women. We must pay tribute to Rosemary on this day because she broke ground by becoming the first Black woman to ever get elected to a parliament of Canada, as an MLA in 1972. She forced the entire government to examine the sexist and racist policies, get funding for shelters for abused women, women centres and rape victims. The rights of all women and children became her passion at the local and global level. Many of us who were influenced by her, continue to work for the rights of women. We cherish her life and her leadership by honouring BC women every year who follow her ideals, with the Rosemary Brown Award for women every year, right here at this club.
In May of 1970 the Abortion Caravan from Vancouver to Ottawa held 2 days of demonstrations on the Parliament Hill. 35 women chained themselves to the Parliamentary gallery in the House of Commons closing the House of Commons for the first time in Canadian history. Again many years of efforts by the women's community and with the help of Dr Morgantaler's efforts to challenge the law, Supreme Court ruled in January 1988 that Canada's abortion laws were unconstitutional, giving women complete reproductive rights.
How ever we were still very reluctant in the 70's to talk about violence against women or wife battering, we called it domestic violence or family violence until of course, my own member of Parliament and my mentor, Margaret Mitchell, spoke in the Parliament of Canada reporting on the shocking statistics. The men laughed at her but she stood up with her fighting words "It is no laughing Matter Mr speaker" galvanizing the women of Canada to fight for their rights, to end violence against women and to organize nationally. I would like to pay tribute to Margaret Mitchell who has been a fighter for women's rights all her life, and continues to encourage both women and men to carry on with the struggle to achieve equality.
The Immigrant and visible women's community realized in the early 80's that our issues were being addressed neither by the government nor the mainstream women's community. Issues of racism, credential recognition, discrimination based on cultural practices, access to English language training and other settlement issues were not on the agenda of the women's movement at that time. Hence the formation of the National Organization of Immigrant Visible Minority women of Canada in 1986.The same year the Government of Canada brought in the Employment Equity Act.
The next phase of that struggle saw the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the battle to get the sections 15 and 28, so that equality rights are enshrined in the Canadian Constitution. Many of us will recall the leadership given by Doris Anderson, Chair of the advisory Council who resigned her position when Minister Axworthy cancelled the women's conference she had planned. 1000 women from across Canada met on Valentine's Day in Ottawa in 1981 demanding action. This Ad hoc committee went on to become the founders of women's Legal Education and Action Fund LEAF as we call it to day. It exits in spite of the efforts of Harper government shamelessly cancelling the Court challenges program. Their 2010 report card grading the Government of British Columbia on its compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of discrimination against women is an outstanding piece of work.
In spite of a lot of progress made in Canada, our aboriginal sisters were continued to be denied rights enjoyed by aboriginal men for many years. In 1981 UN Human Rights committee ruled that Canada had broken the International covenant on Civil and Political Rights by denying Sandra Lovelace of New Brunswick, a first Nations woman who lost her status by marrying an American. When the marriage fell apart, she returned to Canada and was denied housing, education and health care on her reserve. She appealed to the UN and they ruled against Canada. It took an other 4 years until the government of Canada passed legislation amending the Indian Act to eliminate discrimination that penalized the women who married non-native men.
At the global level during the last 40 years the UN took extraordinary steps to recognize the women and contributed greatly to the building the women's movement globally. 1975 was declared the International Year of Women and the first world conference on women was held in Mexico City the same year. 10 years later in Nairobi, which was attended by some of you here and then, in Beijing, the culmination of all the work done by women around the world was the adoption of Beijing Platform for Action in 1995.These conferences not only brought the world's women together, but created a space for us to work together.
In 1981, the UN had passed the Convention to Elimination all forms of Discrimination against Women to which Canada is a signatory, The Millennium Development Goals of year 2000, which call for the eradication of poverty, introduction of universal education for women and girls, improve maternal and child health, end of HIV Aids etc are to be reviewed in 2015. Oct of 2000 also saw the passing of the Security Council resolution 1325, on women, peace and security. None of us are confident that the world community will meet its goals. But the latest action on the part of the UN gives us some hope, which is the establishment of the stand alone Women's Agency called for, by the world's women in Beijing. The "UN Women" is headed by a truly remarkable woman, namely the former president of Chile, Michelle Bachalett. The next generation of women can expect the UN Women to promote the participation of them in global affairs and enhance the implementation of all international accords affecting women.
There is no doubt in my mind that the formula for success for girls and women are, 1. Education and 2.Opportunity to participate. My own story for those who do not know me is an example of this. Growing up in a part of India where both boys and girls had equal access to free education, I had 50% of the formula on my side. This opened up the other 50% namely, the opportunity to participate. Economic participation, non-discriminatory practices at the work place, becoming part of the professional community and developing leadership skills and getting active with the various social networks, all provided me with the opportunity to participate. It may interest you that I started out my university education in the Southern States of the US before coming to Canada. The racial divide there was such that I could not cope with the disrespect, loneliness and prevailing sense of being an outsider. Even though I was more fortunate in the early years in Canada, it is important to recognize that the atmosphere is less welcoming today for a lot of people of colour.
My own profession of Social Work that has social change as its goal, had women such as Jane Adams as our pioneers, which influenced my formative years as a social worker. For those who do not know recognize that name, she was a social worker in Chicago in the early years that established the Settlement House movement, and was the founder of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, the oldest women's organization in the world. She was given the Nobel Peace Prize for her work.
Later on, due to the influence of Canadian women such as Kay McPherson and Muriel Duckworth who established the Canadian Voice of women for Peace, I was able to understand and appreciate the linkages between Peace, Equality and Development. Many of us became socially active locally and globally recognizing that the oppression of people because of their gender is an international phenomenon, so we need to act locally and globally. I also learned from the elders of the women's community that renewed vigour to act collectively and more strategically was the key to transforming women's reality in a positive way. Today I am proud to declare that thanks to them I am able to stand on the shoulders of feminist leaders of the past 100 years and shout out that sisterhood is beautiful.
With increasing burden of poverty on women and unequal access to education and training, health care, persistent violation of women and girl children, and lack of real political representation, it became obvious that we need to protect the rights of women through community organizing and human rights legislation.
Globally, 400 thousand women die every year in pregnancy and child birth, 8 million children die every year under the age of 5 from preventable diseases, 200 thousand women are drawn into sex industry through trafficking every year, 75% of all women infected with HIV/AIDS are between the ages of 15 to 24.
In addition, we have to face the phenomenon which is critical to the future of women's human rights is the rise of conservative movements and religious fundamentalism opposing women's rights at the UN, EU, national governments and local communities.
And of course, the use of organized religion to control women's bodies and lives is not the exclusive reserve of one religion.
Those of us in BC know fully well the oppression of women and girls through polygamy in the name of religion and of course the terrible tragedy of the missing women.
The only choice we have is to believe in the values of diversity and respect instead of domination and violence against women. The future of peace in families, communities and around the world require a major shift in resources away from military solutions toward the end of poverty eradication, social transformation and justice.
The statistics I recited earlier tell us that Peace is not just the absence of war and violence at the national and international level but Peace is the enjoyment of economic and social justice, equality between women and men, and the entire range of human rights and fundamental freedoms with in the society. Genuine partnership between women and men is required if we are to reach our goals. We need to end the masculine /feminine dichotomy and replace it with values of real inclusiveness.
The current government of Canada has taken out the word equality from the Status of women Canada's mandate. They closed 12 of the 16 offices of Status of Women, changed its funding rules to exclude organizations that actively promote equality for women. We know that violence against women is a multifaceted problem Some women stay in dangerous situations because they feel they have no other choice, no affordable housing, no accessible child care, low minimum wage level, all of which have to be addressed if true equality is to be achieved.
Going back to my own story of having equal access to education, in spite of growing up as a girl in a developing country, arriving in Canada in 1960, a Canada that offered me opportunities to participate at the local level as a social worker when I finished University. There were many people around me who were keen to support me and link me with others who had similar interests and goals. Opportunities to participate does not come until one is ready to engage one self, but at the same time, a supportive environment makes it possible for newcomers and young alike to get engaged, test out their skills, give voice to their ideas and opinions, take on responsible positions. That to me is the secret of success for many of us women who became community activists .So I am convinced more than ever that it is important to reach out and "look out for" young women, native born and newcomers alike so that a hand of friendship and support is offered to make their struggles of integration and acceptance into the mainstream community a successful one.
Many of us women in the 60's became activists through our own professional associations; social clubs, peace movement and neighbourhood based NGOs partly due to the fact that traditional avenues of power through political parties and Employer organizations were not easily accessible to us. Through these NGOs we were able to articulate own needs, and interests so that women's issues could reach at the national and international level. In my own case, as President of the BC Association of Social Workers, several other local NGOs for whom I volunteered, in addition to being the President of the International Council on Social Welfare, I had access to a number of UN Forums and opportunities to work with other organizations to bring the issues of children and women to those forums even in the early years of my career.
Others in our midst went on to take on elected office in spite of many barriers they faced. We can also celebrate women such as Rosemary Brown who became the first woman to run for the leadership of any federal party in Canada, and Audrey McLaughlin, an other social worker who went on to become the first national leader of any federal political party in Canada. Margaret Mitchell, who shamed the men parliamentarians telling them that the battering of women is not a laughing matter. Kim Campbell who served as the Prime Minister of Canada how ever brief and of course we have a BC premier elect, Christy Clark.
Even though we have more women elected representatives, it is embarrassingly low compared to Norway, Finland and even Turkey and Rwanda. Equal Voice needs all our support to ensure that a new generation of women, more in number will enter the political arena.
Peace is promoted when we create an environment that offers channels of equal participation for all members of society. Inclusive, democratic governance fosters such values, which offers both women and men the opportunity to lead fulfilling and sustainable lives.
So International Women's day is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate the acts of courage and determination of ordinary women who have played extra ordinary role in the history of women's rights.
By reviewing how far we have come in our struggle for equality, peace and development, we have the opportunity to unite with others both women and men to network, mobilize for meaningful change, so that the promises of BREAD and ROSES for all women here and around the world become a reality.
Happy 100th International women's day
Patsy George
March 8, 2011
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