Steinbach,
June 5, 2006
Anna’s House (Family Resource Centre)

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Facilitators: Jennifer deGroot
& Becky Thiessen
Participants: 17 women

The following ideas were generated by workshop participants as part of our gender budget consultations. Please note that this list does not represent the official position of the UN Platform for Action Committee Manitoba (UNPAC). Neither UNPAC nor all of the participants have endorsed these suggestions.

1. What are key concerns for women in your community?

• Transportation
  • No public transit
  • Hard to get to services without a car
  • Taxis are so expensive
• Equal opportunities for earning
  • 55% maternity leave is not enough money to live off of for some women
  • low wages/part-time/no benefits vs. social assistance — especially for single moms
  • training for employment is expensive
  • women not as valued on farm even though they hold it all together
• Childcare
  • Low wages
  • Lack of consistency because of lack of money
  • Not enough spaces
• Housing
  • Lack of MB housing
  • Need more affordable housing, not just for people on social assistance, but low or middle income people as well
  • Lack of hope when home is not a healthy place to be
  • S.A. rates too low to survive: Example: $700 rent out of an $803 monthly cheque
• Social services
  • Limited services outside of churches and other labels i.e. mental health
  • Need mentorship programs for young women
  • easy for youth to make bad choices
• Low income
  • Tax brackets need to be higher for low income
  • S.A. not indexed
• Health
  • Prevention
    – Lack of fitness opportunities — good for stress and mental health
• Children
  • Men discouraged to take paternity leave — looked down upon
  • “Raising children is a woman’s job”
  • Slowly things are changing
  • Paternity/maternity leave is all or nothing, can only take it at specific times (rules/bureaucracy — every situation is different, little flexibility)
• Small town syndrome
  • Hard to get higher education
  • Losing young people
  • Limited job opportunities for higher paid professionals
  • Old views that men are in charge “Yeah yeah” we will just pacify you.

2. a) What Government programs and services have really worked to meet women’s needs and concerns? How could they be expanded upon or made better?

• Legal Aid — but more funding needed, more accessible and less rules
• Anna’s House — family resource centre
• Agape House — safe place for women who go through abuse
  • (need: exercise / health facility)
• Women’s Community Council — local voice for women, need more representation
• SEELS — Literacy program
• Meal programs, support groups for elderly — need stronger outreach to isolated women
• Eden East Housing
• Habitat for Humanity
• Self Help Education Resource Centre
• Steinbach Arts Council — involves community businesses and mentorship in training & apprenticeship (i.e. Oma’s Quilt Shop)
• HRDC — Youth internship and wage subsidy
• S.E. Women’s business network
• Growing Minds — (English, German and French)
  • Moms and preschool children — prepares and identifies skills needed for kindergarten
• Victim’s Services (once a week, should be more)
• Grace Haven Pregnancy Crisis Centre
• Home Care/Palliative Care (good program, but need more to relieve the load of older wives, keep them healthy!)
• Subsidized sport programs through the school

*All programs are valued, yet there needs to be more awareness, as well as more secure and reliable funding

2. b) What ideas do you have for programs and services that could meet women’s needs?

• Revamp/strategize incentive programs for social assistance to allow people to escape poverty
• Remove taxes on non-prescription items like calcium and vitamins
• Social Recreation Centre for Eden East
• Artist-in-Residence program for Family Resource Centre
• Drop-in child / youth centres
  • To allow parents to shop, go to appointments, workshops etc.
• Women’s community health centre
  • Services for women by women
• Incentives for employers to train/hire women into management positions
• Business/entrepreneur programs
• Awareness training for those with disabilities
• Basic education/training for women with language barriers
• Funding for local initiatives for women’s concerns
• More Childcare options
  • Accessible, affordable
  • Evening, weekends, overnight
• Fitness/health programs in all communities and shelters
  • Accessible, affordable and safe
• Women’s resource centre
  • Counselling — abuse, financial, law, education, life coach
  • One stop place to empower women
• Girls resource centre
  • Like backstage idea
  • To address eating disorders, high school drop-out, immigrant youth, troubled girls
• Hand-up to women who want to further their education, or career improvement, need help with education, childcare etc. (like women in trades)

3. Women often do not have enough money to do the things they need to do and they often do not have enough time to do the things they need to do either. Where are you crunched for time? What could the government do to give you more time to do the things you need to do?

• Four day work week — same pay
• Job sharing
• More credits for families to recognize the spouse not working — to spend more time with families
• Higher tax break for stay-at-home parent
• Reward families for balancing out child raising responsibilities and working at home.
• Incentive to companies that provide childcare programs or support i.e. child illness, sick time
• Consolidated information collection system for government programs
  • Follow up with appropriate resources available
• On-site childcare for continuing education
• Childcare available at workplaces
• Breastfeeding friendly workplaces
• More daycare for women to take training to allow for better paying jobs
• Facilitate programs that allow women to gain training over a period of time without having to leave the home 2 years at once, still able to take care of family
• Tutors for children’s education when mother’s are in a crisis situation, and kids unable to attend public school

4. What ideas do you have on how the Government could earn more money? Examples include: raising existing taxes, introducing new taxes, or stopping programs that don’t work. Use the creativity you have learned from your experience as a woman living with a tight budget.

• Clean-up government inefficiencies
• Government accountable for money spent/salaries
• Prevention more of a focus
  • Health care
  • Money management
  • Life skills
• Educating individuals to empower
• Minimal fee for emergency/non-emergency visits
• More LPNs to reduce emergency visits
• More wind farms
• Big corporations get breaks on hydro, do they use less? No.
• More taxes on cigarettes and alcohol — prevention of health care needs
• More awareness of dangers of gambling — to improve lifestyles, and reduce need for addictions counselling
• Support programs that encourage/increases health — make these programs priority
• Better support for people on social assistance to escape poverty and gain employment
• More support for people with drug addictions
• Nursing stations in southern Manitoba like in the north
• Medi-centres
• Employ/educate more midwives, doulas — birthing companions
• Alternate energy incentives — frees up energy to be sold elsewhere
• Prioritize — do they really need all expense paid vacation? (Government officials)
  • Olympics?