Archive for the ‘Equality’ Category
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From the Inside Out: A unified voice [poverty/abuse]
Sunday, February 13th, 2011
February 12, 2011
Violence against women is intimately linked to poverty. In fact, systemic abuse is pervasive and a reality for many of our citizens, particularly if they are children or teens, seniors, people of colour, women, or not part of the dominant class… Does poverty and need make us more grateful and appreciative or does affluence and excess lead us to think we’re more privileged and entitled? … I believe that working with people who face multiple societal barriers keeps me in check and unwilling to perceive myself as better than or more entitled to the rewards of society than anyone else.
Tags: poverty, women, youth
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Hollywood needs new script: the rich don’t marry the poor
Saturday, February 12th, 2011
February 11, 2011
… the wealthier or poorer a person’s parents are, the greater the chances that he or she will marry someone from the same financial background, according to a new study… And the results didn’t change much when the researchers adjusted for education and race… Interestingly, wealth affected the success of marriages as well. The richer a woman’s parents were, the more likely her marriage was to fail, irrespective of how wealthy her husband’s family is.
Tags: ideology, participation, standard of living, women
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
For female politicians, equality is hard work
Sunday, February 6th, 2011
Feb 04 2011
Women make up only 22 per cent of the House of Commons, but they account for a larger share of membership in cabinet (26 per cent) and in the Senate (35 per cent)… In terms of Commons committee chairs in the current Parliament… Only three women serve at the top of committees, where, it’s often said, the real work of Parliament is done… For the past several elections, roughly 15 per cent of the women who ran for office ended up winning. In the 1970s and 1980s, that figure was closer to six per cent.
Tags: ideology, participation, women
Posted in Equality Debates | 1 Comment »
Reversal of Fortunes or Continued Success? [children of immigrants]
Friday, February 4th, 2011
January 26, 2011
Aneta Bonikowska and Feng Hou of Statistics Canada have released a report examining the earnings and educational attainment among children of immigrants. The study shows that successive cohorts of childhood immigrants who arrived in Canada during the 1960s through the 1980s had increasingly higher educational attainment than their Canadian-born peers by age 25 to 34…
Tags: immigration, multiculturalism, participation, standard of living
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The case of the smelly lunch
Thursday, February 3rd, 2011
February 3, 2011
There are many cases of genuine racism and discrimination in Canada. I don’t believe this is one of them. This is the story of a smelly lunch, a disgruntled employee and a powerful human-rights tribunal that slapped a small businesswoman with a hefty fine on the basis of an unsubstantiated grievance. When she didn’t pay up, the other side’s lawyers got a writ to order the seizure of her house.
Small businesses are common targets of frivolous human-rights complaints. Generally, their lawyers tell them to shut up and pay – because if they don’t, it’s going to cost them even more.
Tags: multiculturalism, rights
Posted in Equality Delivery System | 1 Comment »
IMF chief twists Adam Smith’s view of inequality
Thursday, February 3rd, 2011
February 1, 2011
Smith lived in an age of personal responsibility. Poor relief was a local, personal affair, as was the “beneficence” that Smith praised as the highest virtue. “Beneficence,” wrote Smith, “is always free, it cannot be extorted by force.” Forced redistribution would have offended Smith’s notion of justice, and he would instantly have spotted that “social justice” is a weasel concept that reverses the notion of justice entirely… Smith would have thought it ridiculous to suggest that a nation might become wealthier or happier by forced “redistribution”.
Tags: economy, ideology, poverty, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality History | No Comments »
Harper government has done little for women
Saturday, January 29th, 2011
January 28, 2011
Women could have done with government help during the past five years. They continue to be penalized in the workplace for having children. They are under-represented in public office and increasingly frozen out of government appointments. The social safety net no longer offers as much safety as it once did. Women’s-rights groups, including those representing missing native women, are struggling as their state subsidies are cut.
Tags: ideology, participation, standard of living, women
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Rich get richer, poor get poorer
Saturday, January 22nd, 2011
Jan 22 2011
… Poverty and inequality are bad for the poor, and for the rest of us, too. Pretending they don’t exist, or attempting to downplay their devastating impact on the lives and health of people and communities, won’t make them go away. Most of the research, local and international, points to structural solutions. The OECD says cuts to income transfers (that reduce the amount of money available to seniors, the unemployed, the disabled, and the poor to pay for housing, food, medicine and other basics) have been a key driver of poverty and inequality in Canada.
Tags: economy, ideology, tax
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Human rights minister a good first step:
Friday, January 21st, 2011
January 19, 2011
The House of Commons’ foreign affairs subcommittee on human rights said in its latest report that Canada’s human rights obligations are spread across at least three departments making it difficult to measure any progress or hold anybody responsible… The[y]… urge the government to designate ministerial responsibility for the domestic implementation of Canada’s human rights obligation; for the monitoring of Canada’s human rights record and reporting those finding to appropriate UN bodies; and that the minister be given the necessary tools and resources to carry out the mandate.
Tags: ideology, participation, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
It’s not the economy, stupid. It’s who’s getting rich
Thursday, January 20th, 2011
Jan 20 2011
… Conservatives and Liberals are arguing about the wrong thing. Instead of shouting about relatively minor economic variations, they could be demonstrating their seminal difference by detailing how they would respond to the growing income gap… Conservatives would more closely resemble what they are: a party that tilts toward trickle-down economics, provincial autonomy and libertarian values… Liberals still cling to an image of themselves as what they were: a party steeped in the belief government is a necessary catalyst for financial prosperity, national unity and social progress.
Tags: economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
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