SACPA to host CAWI speakers
By Jensen, Randy on May 7, 2020.
Greg Bobinec
Lethbridge Herald
The Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs explores how the COVID-19 pandemic impacts marginalized communities in its weekly livestream session this morning.
Municipalities’ emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic are raising concerns about the lack of equality and inclusion within the crisis. While many cities have taken the appropriate steps, such as including diverse voices in emergency response planning, arguably, women continue to fall through the cracks.
The speakers, Valerie Stam and Patricia Harewood, will be describing what the City for All Women Initiative (CAWI) in Ottawa has been advocating for during COVID-19. They will also be sharing some of the helpful measures taken by that city.
The disproportionate impact of the pandemic on women, and particularly women experiencing socio-economic marginalization, is well documented in research from Canada and around the world. During their presentation, Stam and Harewood will be sharing the importance of applying an intersectional gendered lens on equality and inclusion to all phases of planning and implementation of COVID-19 emergency responses. With these measures, they say this can ensure that any emergency response takes into consideration the full diversity of women, men and gender-diverse people.
Stam is the executive director of the CAWI, where she co-ordinates training and advocacy with community leaders for inclusive and equitable change in municipal policies. She is a facilitator and educator with over 20 years of experience in intersectional gendered approaches to development, civic engagement, research and policy both locally and abroad. She has a PhD is sociology from Carleton University.
Harwood is a labour lawyer and a passionate advocate for human rights, especially women’s equality rights. As a member of the board of CAWI, a volunteer co-host of CHUO’s Black and Black, she enjoys collaborating with others to discuss and address systemic barriers faced by historically marginalized communities.
This week’s SACPA presentation will take place today at 10 a.m., on SACPA’s YouTube channel.
In order to ask questions of the speakers in the chat feature on YouTube, you must create an account and be signed in.
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