I joined the YWCA Montreal as President and CEO last May. The YWCA moved to the heart of Montreal 146 years ago.
Since then, we have tirelessly championed the rights of women and girls to live in a city that is more inclusive, more equal and less violent. And if we are still here after 146 years, it is because there is still a long way to go before these rights are respected and receive the attention they deserve.
The pandemic has shed light on the many faces of inequalities and factors of increased vulnerability of women (violence, job losses, working conditions). Although the reduction in health instructions will generally make daily life easier, the women we support are still far from having regained a healthy living environment.
Among the glaring issues they face, let us name access to jobs with decent and well-paid working conditions, access to affordable and safe housing for them and their families and, unfortunately – behind these multiple difficulties. -, the violence that many of them are confronted with.
The municipal elections are an ideal time to reflect on the Montreal we want in this post-pandemic world.
By unveiling its Plan for the Future, a little earlier this year, the YWCA was putting forward its vision of Montreal for the decades to come. A vigilant and welcoming Montreal for women, girls and people of various genders.
I would like to take advantage of the current election campaign to express to you what it means, in concrete terms, for Montreal to be an example to follow for inclusion, equality and non-violence.
More inclusive, more egalitarian and less violent
It is a Montreal where single mothers do not have to choose between paying their rent and feeding their children, for lack of sufficient income and decent-priced housing; 45% of women with employment income in Montreal earn less than $ 20,000 per year and one in three single mothers live below the poverty line.
It’s a Montreal set up in such a way that women and girls no longer feel the need to call a friend with one hand while holding their bunch of keys in the other, when they are walking in the street or driving around. public transport. Montrealers are more often victims of sexual violence and harassment than anywhere else in Quebec.
It is a Montreal where the employment and activity rates of women are no longer systematically 8% to 10% lower than those of men.
It’s a Montreal that uses gender-differentiated intersectional analysis (ADS +) when it comes time to make decisions.
In short, a Montreal that has the courage to denounce and act to reduce inequalities affecting women and people of various genders, which sets an example and ensures that all of its citizens can live there. and work there with equality, inclusion and security.
We hope that the next administration will also be inhabited by these same ambitions and become an ally in the deployment of this vision.
What do you think? Express your opinion