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Up For Debate  – THE ALLIANCE FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS.

We are an alliance of over 175 women’s organizations and their allies from across Canada, representing more than 4 million people.

upfordebate.ca

May 22 Sunday afternoon at 1:30 in Vancouver.

We are very happy to have Audrey Seigl, an outspoken member of the Musqueam Nation. Her talk is entitled:
“Carrying on the Work of my Ancestors. How to be good Stewards of the Land”. You will find Audrey passionate, eloquent and also an excellent chanter of her nation’s songs and prayers.

More info under ‘Events’ menu.

Premier Brian Gallant is removing a key regulation that has restricted access to abortion services in New Brunswick for two decades.

Gallant made the announcement at a news conference Wednesday morning in Fredericton.

The premier promised in the election campaign to review Regulation 84-20, which requires women seeking a hospital abortion to have two doctors certify it as medically necessary.The review identified barriers to abortion services, according to Gallant.   more here .  . .

CUUWA Council  sent the premier of New Brunswick a letter protesting the shutdown of the Morgentaler clinic. See Issues…Reproductive Justice

Ottawa: Apart from electing its first female Premier, Ontarians achieved something else in last Thursday’s provincial election in Ontario. The Ontario legislature will now rank second in the country for its representation of women at a provincial level after electing a historic high of 35.5 percent women.

This percentage is only second to British Columbia which leads the country for women’s representation at just over 36 percent.

See more of this article

Many thanks to Caroline Jondahl who hosted the CUUWA table in Montreal – inviting people to the teleconference AGM on June 1 and letting them know of the face to face meeting next year in Ottawa.

Rev. Kathy Sage provided a copy of Invisible Influence: Claiming Canadian Unitarian Universalist Women’s History  – that  she coauthored, for people to browse. The book can be ordered with this form Invisible Influence- order form 2014

Here’s a confession. I have lived most of my adult life riddled with self-doubt. Sometimes, I felt barely adequate. My inner critic never shut up.

Follow this  link for the rest of the Globe and Mail article

One initiative that has captured the imagination of many Unitarians is the request to develop a woman-centred service in early March.  Last year CUUWA reported 6 such services scattered across the country. This year we met a goal of doubling the participating numbers of Congregations and Fellowships. We know of 12 services in March that had woman-centred content but we don’t know many of the details! Therefore, I’m summarizing what we do know with the hope that others might let us know of their special program.

MARCH 9 2014 Service Summary

“When women hold hands, all things are possible”

At the last AGM, the CUUWA questioned if there was a possibility of linking the Lunapad’s Afripad program with Child Haven.  It turns out Child Haven is producing low-cost sanitary napkins.  Read on!

CUUWA Child Haven’s  MVP Program for Women, located in a low-income area in Ghaziabad, is fully funded by Child Haven. It has trained some 8,000 women in tailoring over the last 10 years. These women then make and repair clothes for their families, or find employment doing tailoring for others. They come for 6 months and learn on the center’s 22 machines, some hand-cranked and some foot-treadle powered.

A year ago or so, Child Haven purchased equipment to make low-cost sanitary napkins, which the center is also now producing. Six women are trained to produce the pads, and 5 are doing the marketing. The pads are much less costly than those found in the market making them accessible to more women. The project has also offered family planning training to some 50,000 women including a focus on the value of girl children, asthe poster from their wall above shows.

Rajni, the founding coordinator of the project, found, when she first moved to the area, it had very poor services, schools water and other basic needs. So she started a women’s group to work on solving these problems.  She and Bonnie Cappucino went to government officials together, helped women get ID cards and the like and she discovered the joy of working with and helping others;

“I can make money anywhere but this work gives tremendous satisfaction, Ranji says.

(Excerpted from the Child Haven Newsletter)  www.childhaven.ca