International Day For The Eradication Of Poverty

Posts Tagged ‘International Day for the Eradication of Poverty’

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

Posted on: October 17th, 2012 by Nellie's No Comments

Today, October 17, is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, established by the United Nations in 1993. Eliminating poverty may seem like an unattainable goal, but much can be accomplished by a more equal distribution of the world’s resources. According to UN studies, women represent 70% of the world’s poor people. Although women do 66% of the world’s labour, according to The World Bank, they only earn 10% of global income and own a mere 1% of the world’s land. According to The Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action, much of this inequality exists in Canada, where, women (including part-time and part-year workers) earn 64.0% as much as men and Aboriginal women earn 46% as much as men.

At Nellie’s we view poverty as a form of violence against women. In 2004 we completed our position paper on this topic, and wrote about women experiencing multiple oppressions such racism, ableism, and raising children as a single parent, which all impact their experience of poverty. Nellie’s works in partnership with programs such as the December 6 Fund , which provides interest-free loans to help women pay rent and clear debts. We are campaigning against the Ontario Government’s plan to cut the Community Start-Up and Maintenance Benefit, a payment that helps women pay for heat and electricity so they can avoid eviction. We are also involved with the Right to Housing Campaign, led by the Advocacy Centre for Tenants, Ontario. This campaign is based on the fact that under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, we all have a right to adequate, affordable housing. Nellie’s is organizing a public forum on our right to housing on November 22, which is National Housing Day.

If you’d like to help eradicate poverty, you can write to your Member of Provincial Parliament and demand an end to the cuts in social assistance, especially the Community Start-Up Benefit. You can commemorate the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty by joining The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty at their protest of social assistance cuts today at 12 noon (details here). They are planning mass applications for the Start-Up Benefit, followed by a lunch and a march on the Provincial Government to deliver the applications.

Ending women’s poverty will help the whole community. Let’s make it happen!

Poverty Has A Woman’s Face

Posted on: April 12th, 2012 by Nellie's No Comments

1 in 7 women in Canada live in poverty. Women earn just 76% of a man’s wage. More often than not women who are poor are faced with choosing between paying their rent or feeding their children.

Nowhere else is this more evident than at Nellie’s. In 2008, Nellie’s delivered 1,331 meals through our weekly food program –“Supper Surprise”. Last year, that number hit 1,810 – a 26 per cent increase, with an average of 71 families relying on this program for weekly food supplements.

What does Poverty look like for the clients at Nellies? This is what women had to say at W.E.A.V our Women Ending Violence Support Group

“Working everyday 2 or even 3 jobs and we don’t make enough to put food on our table every day.”
“Sometimes I don’t eat dinner—that way my kids have enough.”
“Poverty, struggling to survive, trying to stay alive.”
“Homeless, living on the street, trying to find something to eat.”
“Depressed, angry, hungry, frustrated, lonely and isolated.”
“You can’t get money and you can’t find a job and that’s sad.”

Many factors cause women’s poverty including: lack of access to education, opportunities, childcare and fair income, sex-role stereotypes in paid work, changes in family composition such as divorce, health, violence and abuse, leaving gainful employment to caregive, and greater risk and increased poverty for women who are Aboriginal, non-white, disAbled or queer.

Women as the face of poverty results in children who are poor. Poverty among children is strongly linked to ill-health and poor academic achievement. By keeping women poor, we are also keeping children poor, making them sick, sabotaging their futures, contributing to crime, and perpetuating the cycle of poverty and violence. We need to work together to effect change social changes that will help not just some, but all women and children to succeed.