Women need specialized services too
The Ann Terry Society (ATS) board was interested to read the Feb. 27 article (“On the job,” Cape Breton Post) concerning the New Opportunities for Work program managed by the Centre for Employment Innovation at St. Francis Xavier University.
This program will make a difference in the lives of the people served, which they list as including First Nations, African Nova Scotians, visible minorities, those on employment support and income assistance, persons with disabilities and workers over 55 years of age. This is an important and well needed program.
However, we feel that women should also be listed among those needing specialized services, and here’s why:
The ATS board has over 30 years experience successfully providing quality, women centered, community-based career development services for women in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) using a model that has been proven to work. Over those years, we’ve learned a lot about the unique issues that face women when they are trying to enter or re-enter the workforce. Women still shoulder the main responsibility for home care, child care and senior care in the home and often choose unpaid or poorly paid work to optimize the wellbeing of their families. Women report that it can be very difficult to return to the paid workforce after being at home when things are changing so rapidly in today’s workplace.
There are many indicators that women need specialized services for employment. Women make up more that 90 per cent of those employed in the three lowest paying occupations in Nova Scotia; 61 per cent of employees that earn minimum wage or less in this province are women; women earn $0.70 for every dollar a man in Nova Scotia makes; 55 per cent of women in the workforce in Nova Scotia earn less than $22,000 a year; women make up a very small percentage of the trades employment roster.
Women head up the majority of single parent families living on Income Assistance in CBRM. We know that one in three children in CBRM are living in poverty. When thinking about this statistic, we need to remember that children live in a family and as long as women are poor, children in this province will grow up in poverty. Women who have secure, wellpaid jobs are better able to help support their families.
As you think about International Women’s Day this week, we ask that you consider these facts about women and employment. The Ann Terry Society helps to foster women-centric employment services in partnership with the Island Employment – Nova Scotia Works Centre at 500 George Street in Sydney. The Ann Terry Women’s Employment Project has a dedicated staff who deliver an inclusive client service, while maintaining women-only services. Ann Terry Society Tamiesha Emanuel, Rosalie Gillis,