“women and the budget”

by Mary Ann Drazenovich

West Central Streets — March/April 2006

Well, the provincial budget has been released. This year, myself and other community women can look at this budget through different lenses because of a workshop on February 24 at the West Central Women’s Resource Centre (WCWRC), given by UNPAC (United Nations Platform for Action Committee — Manitoba).

UNPAC was born out of a commitment made at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. Canada signed the Declaration and Platform for Action at Beijing which was a promise to commit our country to advancing women’s human rights. Representatives from 189 countries including Canada and Manitoba gathered for the purpose of “advancing the goals of equality, development and peace for all women everywhere”.

It is exciting to know that so many women and their countries are dedicated to improving life for women. UNPAC is carrying out the commitment by providing education to women in Manitoba, encouraging them to participate in the budget process.

The workshop at the WCWRC was fun, educating, sometimes sad, but also empowering. We spoke about our experiences as individuals and a community in West Central Winnipeg. We learned that budgets reflect values.

We were asked to remember the last time we had to make a hard decision based on finances and how we decided. It was very interesting. The women unanimously spoke about concern for their family’s wellbeing first before anything else.

When we looked at what motivates government budgets we found that “peer pressure” sometimes drives decisions. Canadian governments try to impress investment companies in New York by having balanced budgets. Closer to home, the ‘have not’ provinces like Manitoba think they have to compete with the ‘have’ provinces such as Alberta.

The province thinks if they cut a person’s tax by a hundred dollars a year, this will give people incentive not to move away. I think unsafe streets, poverty and a general atmosphere of despair as reflected in the shameful amounts of child suicides in our province would drive people to move. I would have no problem with paying 100 dollars more a year to provide women and their children with more resources.

Another motivating force for the government is to stay in power. They do this by pleasing the people that vote for them who are sometimes members of powerful lobby groups that can hire people to ensure their voices get heard.

What does this mean for the women in West Central? The major issues in our community are poverty, housing, safety and child care. When we look at the recent provincial budget and compare it to the needs of women in this community, it is not all that great. I didn’t read a thing about family services and housing. In terms of safety it was announced there would be 23 more police officers and more funds for Lighthouse programs for at risk children. That is positive but there was no mention of support for the women who raise these children, or of lessening the burdens of poverty and housing that are essential for a family’s basic survival. It’s great to have a police presence but we cannot create an environment of dependency on the police. We ought to be able to use this opportunity of safety for the women to come together in community to create a safe place for ourselves and our children.

The WCWRC is a venue where women can come together to share common experiences, ideas and talents and learn how to take charge of our lives and community. There was no mention in the budget about sustaining resources like this. Although the Centre has received small amounts of money, right now we do not have enough money to operate in any meaningful way after next month.

How then does the provincial government justify this budget that does not reflect the promise that our country made at Beijing? These are questions we can ask at the budget consultation meetings the Minister of Finance is facilitating in fall. It is important for people in our community to attend these meetings. Get informed. Voice your opinion and ask questions. This is how we are going to take charge over our lives and our community.

I encourage the women in West Central to come and participate at the WCWRC. In the spirit on the Beijing conferences we can begin by coming together and making our voices heard to our elected MLAs, reminding them of their commitment to advance equality, development and peace for women in our world, country and community.

The WCWRC is located at 583 Ellice and for now is open Monday, Wednesday and Fridays from 9-4. You can also contact UNPAC to inquire about upcoming workshops at 772-7876.