Examining women’s boom burden

Originally published in FFWD October 25, 2007 by Drew Anderson in City

The Women’s Centre of Calgary will play host to a conference celebrating its 10 years of independent service to women, at a time when issues of poverty, politics and commerce are increasingly important. Our booming economy can be an unforgiving beast for women, and the recent municipal election saw two incumbent female aldermen lose their seats.

Lisa Hari, an education and outreach worker at the centre, and one of the organizers of the conference, says the point is to have women tell their own stories. “We actually went out and said, ‘Hey, we’re planning a conference and what would you like to talk about?” Participants were further asked to look at the media and consider misrepresentations, misinformation and unaddressed issues pertaining to women.

The conference, titled Connections, will feature individual sessions covering everything from connecting with corporate Calgary to sex and gender diversity issues. Each presenter will have a personal connection to the material and a story to tell.

“I think what’s unique about this conference is that it’s women living the issues,” says Hari. “We have a woman that’s a vice-president of a bank coming to talk about women in corporate Calgary. So it’s women that are telling their stories, and I think that’s what is so great about this conference.”

In light of the recent ejection of two women from city council, the session on women and politics is particularly timely. Susan Stratton, co-chair of Equal Voice (Southern Alberta chapter), president of the Alberta Green Party and a Raging Granny, will speak about how women can participate in politics and increase representation. “There are statistics, both federally and provincially, and now at least in Calgary in the civic arena, about the poor representation of women. So we’ll be mentioning those stats certainly, that we may have come a long way, but not in politics,” she says.

Stratton believes that having more women involved in the political process will help soften the often-harsh world of Canadian politics and foster a greater spirit of co-operation. “I just think that the culture of politics as it’s usually practised is an issue. The tendency to attack and pull each other down rather than looking to co-operate and get something done is very obvious in Canadian politics,” she says. “You get more women in, you change the culture and the expectation, so it is kind of a chicken and egg thing.”

According to Stratton, it is not simply a matter of being elected to office, either. Women can participate in politics on a number of levels, she says, citing the rise of Elizabeth May to leader of the federal Green Party through the Sierra Club.

This loss of representation at all levels of government is troubling when so many women are suffering through the boom times in Calgary. According to Hari, there are a lot of women coming to the centre with housing issues. She says there is “definitely an increase because of rental hikes. So that might mean people need more food, or more personal care items, or they can’t afford to do things for themselves.”

Livia Quequezana, a presenter on women and poverty at the conference, knows the dangers of Calgary’s high cost of living from personal experience. After moving here with her family one and a half years ago, Quequezana struggled and was forced to live on welfare before her husband found a job.

“Almost all of the welfare I received went to pay the rent, which is huge here in Calgary,” she says. There was the additional burden of a sick child and the difficulty of establishing themselves in a new city, but she says they were lucky to receive generous help from city agencies including the Women’s Centre.

“That’s why I keep in touch with the Women’s Centre. I am always grateful to them because they provided us with food, clothing, tickets for recreational activities, any kind of information about schooling and supplies, they are a very good support for women in need.”

Quequezana is presenting at the conference in order to encourage other women to speak up. “The only way to have support is to talk about it,” she says. “I would encourage women to talk about their own issues to get the support that they need, because here in Calgary, they will find many kinds of agencies and many good people that will help in many ways.”

Hari hopes that the conference will live up to its name and foster communication between a diverse group of women with unique stories to tell. “That’s why we’re calling it Connections. Not only are people talking about what is their perspective, what’s their current issue, but having the opportunity to listen to other women and building those connections, building some understanding.”