Women’s advocates call on province for increased support
Posted Oct 21, 2011 06:54:12 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
by Brett Ruskin
A new branch of the Women’s Action Coalition of Nova Scotia wants the provincial government to provide better support to women on a variety of issues.
The Women Are Watching campaign focusses on reducing poverty, providing adequate affordable housing, and ending violence against women.
“Nova Scotia has the highest rate of sexual assault in the country, and we have the lowest conviction rate,” said Christine Saulnier, co-chair of the Women’s Action Coalition. “We’re talking about one in every 25 Nova Scotians, almost all of whom are women.”
Saulnier tells News 95.7 that working mothers are another group in need of support. She said 84 per cent of mothers aged 25-44 have a full- or part-time job. In 1976, only 48 per cent of moms were working.
“They’re there without sufficient support,” Saulnier explains. “They’ve entered the labour force with a childcare situation where only one in three children has access to regulated childcare. Otherwise, I’m not sure where women are putting their children, quite frankly. We should be worried about that.”
Saulnier and the Women Are Watching group are speaking with provincial leaders from all three parties, and are hoping to hear a response by Dec. 10.
