On February 14, 2017 we sent a letter to Mayor Tory and City Council on behalf of 47 signatories representing a broad cross section of community organizations, activists and researchers to express our deep concern for the lack of gender equity in the City Budget, which is contrary to motions that were passed at the July 2016 Council meeting.
For inquiries please contact Leila Sarangi, Manager, Community Programs at 647-455-0857
February 14, 2017
His Worship John Tory
Mayor, City of Toronto
100 Queen St. W.
City Hall, Second floor, West
Toronto, ON M5H 2N2
Re: Gender Equity in the City Budget
Dear Sir:
We are writing to you today to express our deep concern for the lack of gender equity in the proposed 2017 City Budget. At the July 2016 Council meeting, a motion was adopted that mandates all 2017 budgetary processes and decisions be made through a Gender Equity Lens and we are highly disappointed that this did not occur. As a result, women in Toronto will continue to face systemic discrimination through gender-blind decision-making.
At its very core, a Gender Equity Lens acknowledges and analyses the underlying root causes of disparities that different groups of people face based on their social, cultural and economic identities.
It recognizes that both revenues and expenditures of City budgets impact women in particular ways and that these effects are compounded when gender intersects with other identities that can include Aboriginal identity, race, culture, creed, language, citizenship, amount and source of income, family status, dis/ability, sexual identity and orientation, age, geographic location in the City, among others. The goal of a Gender Equity Lens is to redress and remedy these systemic disparities through fair taxation and fair allocations of public resources.
Governments that use a Gender Equity Lens in both budgetary decisions and policy development make a strong commitment to collecting, understanding and publishing disaggregated data through an investment of time and resources. To fully understand this data, there must be robust ongoing engagement processes in place with diverse women who are impacted by budget and policy decisions that include design, implementation and evaluation processes. There are approximately 150 regions worldwide that conduct gender budgeting and we strongly encourage the City to look to international best practices that would make sense for Toronto.
The need for a Gender Equity Lens is imperative. The persistent, substantial and unacceptable wage gap between women and men in Toronto is 32%. In other words, on average women are making 68 cents to the average male dollar, a gap that widens when gender intersects with other social, cultural and economic identities. Women are generally the poorest members of a household, the poorest people in a neighbourhood, and the poorest citizens of a City. The recent confirmation that Toronto has the highest child poverty rate in Canada is really an indicator of our City’s rate of poverty among mothers.
Custom research by the Neighbourhood Change Research Partnership (attached) indicates that in 311 census tracts, or 57% of our City, women’s incomes are below average. Women’s incomes are even less able to keep up with rising costs for housing, food, transportation and other basic needs for themselves and their children. As a result, women are disproportionately reliant on City services including housing, transit, childcare and community programs to make ends meet.
Women who are escaping gender-based violence cite the lack of affordable, quality housing as the number one reason why they cannot leave abusive relationships. With women’s shelters operating at 100% capacity, hundreds of women, their dependents and youth are left with no safe place to go. Proposed budget cuts to shelter staff and inadequate investments into affordable housing will exacerbate this.
Increased fees for services including transportation and lack of access to affordable childcare make it difficult, and in many cases, impossible, for women to access the job market. Women are twenty times more likely than men to cite childcare as a barrier to participating in the workforce, however, we know from other jurisdictions that when affordable childcare is in place and women can return to work, the economy grows and everyone benefits. Inadequate sustainable investments into childcare subsidies and cuts to transit services while increasing fares mean women will continue to struggle with these barriers to workforce participation.
This year’s budget does not go far enough towards remedying the disparities that women in Toronto face, which leave women in unsafe and precarious positions. A true Gender Equity Lens, along with a City-wide Gender Equity Strategy to remedy policy decisions that compound budget disparities, will provide the City with the correct tools to understand and make decisions that will ultimately reduce, and potentially eliminate, systemic intersectional gender discrimination.
Therefore, we ask that the City:
- Implement an Intersectional Gender Equity Lens in all City budget discussions, processes and decisions over the long term, including in the City’s Long-Term Fiscal Plan, and for the development of an Intersectional Gender Equity Strategy;
- Adequately resource the Office of Equity, Diversity and Human Rights to finalize the development of the Gender Equity toolkit currently in process and train City staff in how to implement it;
- Collect and publish data disaggregated by gender, race, immigrant status and other variables;
- Seek gender equity-informed partnerships with diverse women and women-serving organizations to understand impacts of budget and policy decisions in their lives; and
- Rely on this quantitative and qualitative data to inform budgetary and policy decisions in an ongoing structural way.
Sincerely,
- Silvia Samsa, Executive Director and Leila Sarangi, Community Programs Manager, Women’s Habitat of Etobicoke
- Abi Ajibolade, Executive Director, The Redwood | A safe haven for women and children fleeing abuse
- Rupaleem Bhuyan, Associate Professor, University of Toronto and Lead Researcher, Migrant Mothers Project
- Amanda Dale, Executive Director, Barbara Schlifer Clinic
- Diane Dyson, Board Member, Federation of Metro Tenants’ Associations
- Rachel Epstein, Executive Director, Winchevsky Centre / United Jewish People’s Order (Toronto)
- Maureen Fair, Executive Director, West Neighbourhood House
- Fatima Filippi, Executive Director, Rexdale Women’s Centre
- Russ Ford, Executive Director, LAMP Community Health Centre
- Dr. Grace-Edward Galabuzi, Associate Professor, Ryerson University
- Everton Gordon, Executive Director, Caribbean Africa Canadian Social Services (formerly the Jamaican Canadian Association)
- Margaret Hancock, Executive Director, Family Services Toronto
- Margaret C. Haynes, MSW, RSW , Executive Director, Homeward Family Shelter o/a Julliette’s Place
- Lubna Khalid, Coordinator Women Speak Out
- Farrah Khan, Co-Chair, Provincial Roundtable on Violence Against Women
- Wendy Komiotis, Executive Director, METRAC: Action on Violence
- Tim Maguire, President, CUPE Local 79
- Akio Maroon, Founder, Toronto Childcare Collective
- Ana Marques, Manager of Finance, Abrigo Centre
- Arlene McCalla, Nadine Chan, Lesley Ackrill, Executive Co-Directors, Interval House
- Jean McDonald, Executive Director, Maggie’s: Toronto Sex Workers Action Project
- Heather McGregor, CEO, YWCA Toronto
- E. Ann McRae, B.A., LL. B., Director of Legal Services, Rexdale Community Legal Clinic
- Sean Meagher, Executive Director, Social Planning Toronto
- Harmy Mendoza, Executive Director, WomanACT
- Janet Mercer, Toronto Coalition for Better Childcare
- Julius Mlynarski, Lawyer-Director, South Etobicoke Community Legal Services
- Jeanne Françoise Mouè, Directrice Générale, La Maison
- Patricia O’Connell, Executive Director, Sistering
- Maureen O’Reilly, President, CUPE Local 4948
- Emily Paradis, Senior Research Associate, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto
- Huong Pham, Executive Director, Assaulted Women’s Helpline
- Marcie Ponte, Executive Director, Working Women Community Centre
- Alana Powell, Michelle Jones and Munizah Salman, Co-Chairs, Ryerson Student Childcare Advocacy Association (RSCAA)
- Enrique Robert, Executive Director, Birchmount Bluffs Neighbourhood Centre
- Angela Robertson, Executive Director, Queen West-Central Toronto Community Health Centre
- Maya Roy, Executive Director, Newcomer Women’s Services Toronto
- Gita Schwartz, Interim Executive Director, Elizabeth Fry Society
- Bill Sinclair, Executive Director, St. Stephen’s Community House
- Lee Soda, Executive Director, Agincourt Community Services Association
- Nadine Sookermany, Executive Director, Springtide Resources
- John Stapleton, Open Policy Ontario
- Sharlene Tygesen, Executive Director, Ernestine’s Women’s Shelter
- Fatima Valentim, Director, Yorktown Shelter for Women
- Francisco Vidal, Director of Services, Centre for Spanish Speaking People
- Effie Vlachoyannacos, Lead, Engagement & Leadership, Maytree
- Anna Victoria Wong, Executive Director, Chinese Family Services of Ontario
Cc:
Councillor Ainslie, Paul, Ward 43 Scarborough East
Councillor Augimeri, Maria, Ward 9 York Centre
Councillor Bailão, Ana, Ward 18 Davenport
Councillor Burnside, Jon, Ward 26 Don Valley West
Councillor Campbell, John, Ward 4 Etobicoke Centre
Councillor Carmichael Greb, Christin, Ward 16 Eglinton-Lawrence
Councillor Carroll, Shelley, Ward 33 Don Valley East
Councillor Colle, Josh, Ward 15 Eglinton-Lawrence
Councillor Crawford, Gary, Ward 36 Scarborough Southwest
Councillor Cressy, Joe, Ward 20 Trinity-Spadina
Councillor Crisanti, Vincent, Ward 1 Etobicoke North
Councillor Davis, Janet, Ward 31 Beaches-East York
Councillor De Baeremaeker, Glenn, Ward 38 Scarborough Centre
Councillor Di Ciano, Justin, Ward 5 Etobicoke-Lakeshore
Councillor Di Giorgio, Frank, Ward 12 York South-Weston
Councillor Doucette, Sarah, Ward 13 Parkdale-High Park
Councillor Filion, John, Ward 23 Willowdale
Councillor Fletcher, Paula, Ward 30 Toronto-Danforth
Councillor Ford, Michael, – Ward 2 Etobicoke North
Councillor Fragedakis, Mary, Ward 29 Toronto-Danforth
Councillor Grimes, Mark, Ward 6 Etobicoke-Lakeshore
Councillor Holland, Michelle, Ward 35 Scarborough Southwest
Councillor Holyday, Stephen, Ward 3 Etobicoke Centre
Councillor Karygiannis, Jim, Ward 39 Scarborough-Agincourt
Councillor Kelly, Norm, Ward 40 Scarborough-Agincourt
Councillor Layton, Mike, – Ward 19 Trinity-Spadina
Councillor Lee, Chin, Ward 41 Scarborough-Rouge River
Councillor Mammoliti, Giorgio, Ward 7 York West
Councillor Matlow, Josh, Ward 22 St. Paul’s
Councillor McConnell, Pam, Ward 28 Toronto Centre-Rosedale
Councillor McMahon, Mary-Margaret, Ward 32 Beaches-East York
Councillor Mihevc, Joe, Ward 21 St. Paul’s
Councillor Minnan-Wong, Denzil, Ward 34 Don Valley East
Councillor Moeser, Ron, Ward 44 Scarborough East
Councillor Nunziata, Frances, Ward 11 York South-Weston
Councillor Palacio, Cesar, Ward 17 Davenport
Councillor Pasternak, James, Ward 10 York Centre
Councillor Perks, Gord, Ward 14 Parkdale-High Park
Councillor Perruzza, Anthony, Ward 8 York West
Councillor Robinson, Jaye, Ward 25 Don Valley West
Councillor Shan, Neethan, Ward 42 Scarborough-Rouge River
Councillor Shiner, David, Ward 24 Willowdale
Councillor Thompson, Michael, Ward 37 Scarborough Centre
Councillor Wong-Tam, Kristyn, Ward 27 Toronto Centre-Rosedale
Chris Brillinger, Executive Director, Social Development, Finance and Administration
Uzma Shakir, Director, Equity, Diversity and Human Rights
