April 1, 2025
A Joint Statement From The Toronto GBV/IPV Working Group On The Elimination Of The Minister For Women And Gender Equality Canada. Women’s rights and safety are non-negotiable. As professionals working […]
March 25, 2025
PRESS RELEASE: TORONTO, ON – On Sunday, March 23rd, 2025, a federal snap election was officially called, with Canadians set to go to the polls on April 28, 2025. Since the […]
March 10, 2025
TORONTO, ON – At WomanACT, we train community, corporate, and government partners on the challenges women and gender-diverse people face in the workplace. A key part of this involves helping participants […]
July 3, 2024
Eden Hoffer is a PhD student in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at Western University. Her doctoral research focuses on how mothers who are intimate partner violence victim-survivors are re-victimized and/or […]
April 16, 2024
In Canada, the gender pension gap is a growing factor of senior poverty that disproportionately affects older women and reduces their well-being, in terms of health and economics. The impact […]
January 16, 2024
WomanACT’s 2024 Pre-Budget Submission Violence against women is not only a human rights violation but has devastating physical, emotional, social and economic consequences for women. Housing, homelessness, and intimate partner […]
November 15, 2023
Violence against women is one of the main causes of homelessness and housing instability among women and children. Approximately 30% of Canada’s homeless population are women, 91% of whom have […]
September 27, 2023
As the nation prepares to observe the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, we emphasize the critical importance of this day in shedding light on the heartbreaking issue of missing […]
November 25, 2024
TORONTO, ON – WomanACT stands with community advocates to call for the Ontario government to take decisive action by passing Bill 173, formally declaring Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) an epidemic. As the global 16 Days […]
July 7, 2023
WomanACT’s submission for the National Housing Council’s Review Panel on the Financialization of Purpose-Built Rental Housing. Financialization is a growing trend toward the use of housing as an investment to […]
June 15, 2023
Older women are disproportionately affected by violence. Older women are victims in 58% of family violence cases in Canada[i] and are twice as likely to be victims of intimate partner […]
June 1, 2023
Toronto, June 1, 2023 – YWCA Toronto, WomanACT, Social Planning Toronto, and City for All have joined forces with more than 45 community organizations to launch the Show Up for […]
March 27, 2023
This blog originally appeared on Homeless Hub. Survivors of gender-based violence can experience homelessness due to lack of access to safe and secure housing. They may be unable to access […]
November 7, 2022
Why is financial literacy a gender issue? Globally, there is a persistent gender gap in financial literacy. Financial literacy is understood as having the skills, knowledge, and capacity to make […]
October 27, 2022
Engaging people with lived experience of gender-based violence is central to WomanACT’s work. Survivors’ personal experiences of systemic barriers is key to creating solutions to overcome them. In addition, survivors’ […]
October 6, 2022
Canada wants highly educated immigrants and has been more successful than other countries in attracting them. On average, immigrant women, for instance, have higher levels of formal education than Canadian-born […]
October 3, 2022
Open Letter to All Toronto Mayoral and Council Candidates: We are a concerned group of non-profit organizations who are ringing the alarm bell on rising poverty and inequality in Toronto. […]
August 22, 2022
What is femicide? The United Nations has recognized femicide as the most extreme form of violence and discrimination against women and girls. Femicide is defined as the killing of women […]
June 27, 2022
Toronto, ON – A new poll from the WomanACT in partnership with Angus Reid Group shows that experiences of harassment are common on public transit in Toronto. While 86% of […]
May 24, 2022
Toronto, ON: Today, WomanACT and The Society for Canadian Women in Science & Technology (SCWIST) are pleased to announce partnerships with three employers who are dedicated to creating workplaces free […]
April 12, 2022
Today is Equal Pay Day. Equal Pay Day raises awareness of the gender pay gap and acknowledges how far into the year the average woman must work to earn what […]
February 24, 2022
In recent decades, the number of women and gender diverse people in STEM-related fields has been increasing. These folks are making important discoveries and spearheading progress in their industries and […]
February 13, 2022
The recent death of 22-year-old Gabby Petito in 2021 who was killed by her boyfriend, and the death of 23-year-old Lauren Smith-Fields who was found dead in her apartment following […]
February 2, 2022
“I was left with two options that didn’t work for me and I had to choose the lesser evil, instead of having to think about what would really work for […]
January 16, 2022
Domestic and dating violence, or intimate partner violence, has a long term impact on women’s economic security. A lack of economic security can prevent a woman from leaving an abusive […]
November 18, 2021
Economic abuse is a common form of intimate partner violence. Studies have shown that anywhere from 94%[i] to 99%[ii] of women in abusive relationships have experienced some form of economic […]
August 11, 2021
The COVID19 pandemic may be novel, but the connection between violence and women’s economic security is not. As governments start to develop economic recovery plans, it is critical that women’s […]
August 3, 2021
On August 31, 2021 the Pay Equity Act will come into force requiring federally registered employers to proactively plan around and compensate for pay gaps between women and men. The […]
May 27, 2021
WomanACT is proud to partner with Uber Canada as part of Uber’s Driving Change initiative, a global commitment to support and partner with leading sexual assault and domestic violence organizations to […]
March 31, 2021
Last week, Ontario released its 2021 budget. The budget focuses on protecting people’s health and the economy, and it charts the Province’s plan to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. With […]
March 15, 2021
In January 2021, the Canadian government announced a commitment to develop a National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence. Leading up to the development of the Plan, WomanACT undertook consultations […]
February 5, 2021
Finances play an important role in every person’s life. But despite advances made to women’s economic security in recent decades, women continue to face very different financial challenges than men. […]
September 23, 2020
In 2019, Canada committed to supporting the most vulnerable communities in accessing affordable and quality housing through the National Housing Strategy. The strategy identified women and children fleeing intimate partner […]
September 22, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the housing challenges and crisis that exists. Housing remains one of the top barriers faced by women experiencing violence and the services that support them. […]
August 17, 2020
As my mom grasped the phone to check her app, the only thing on her mind was to check in on a friend that was miles away. Innovations in technology have made it so that my mother, and perhaps, many other women, now feel empowered by connections developed in virtual spaces during this novel time.
July 21, 2020
Women and communities of gender diverse people have complicated relationships with social media. We always have. Social media is often a tool enabling violence online – used by perpetrators to […]
July 1, 2020
1 in 3 employees across Canada have experienced domestic violence. Domestic violence is not restricted to the home and often extends into the workplace. As families across Canada have retreated […]
March 11, 2020
Yesterday the Violence against Women Coordinating Committee held a training event on how to become a trauma informed organization. The event welcomed 62 participants representing 38 organizations from across the […]
March 6, 2020
Today we celebrated International Women’s Day at the Keele Community Hub with our York South-Weston Community. Caring for our Communities, Caring for Ourselves focused on the importance of non-profits in […]
February 5, 2020
We are excited to share that our research partners at the University of Guelph have won the The SciShops Pitch Challenge for our community-based approach to our financial abuse research! […]
November 14, 2019
WomanACT is excited to share that we have received funding from The Law Foundation of Ontario to undertake research to explore how women experiencing violence use technology to access legal […]
November 8, 2019
Last night we came together to celebrate frontline sectoring working across the City to end violence against women. The Soul of a Warrior Awards recognizes front-line staff for their hard […]
October 22, 2019
Over the last several decades, an increase in the number of dual-earner and single families across Canada has steadily risen the demand for affordable, quality childcare. Close to half (46%) […]
October 1, 2019
We are excited to publish our new research into financial abuse as a form of intimae partner violence in the Toronto area: Hidden in the Everyday. Over the last 18 […]
September 27, 2019
Last night we had over 75 people come out to our Annual General Meeting for our Women Vote 2019 event. We welcomed CityNews Toronto reporter Cynthia Mulligan who sat down […]
September 17, 2019
This week, WomanACT spoke to City Council about the critical importance of a city-wide Gender Equity Strategy and Gender Equality Office at the City of Toronto. While we commend the […]
August 16, 2019
The 2019 federal election will soon be upon us and we want all federal party leaders to tell Canadians what their positions are on women’s and gender equality issues. WomanACT is […]
July 27, 2019
Finding adequate and affordable housing in Toronto has become increasingly difficult. For women and children looking to leave situations of domestic violence, finding safe and affordable housing can be one […]
June 27, 2019
WomanACT is proud to partner with Uber as part of Uber’s Driving Change initiative, a global commitment to support and partner with leading sexual assault and domestic violence organizations around the […]
October 22, 2018
WomanACT is undertaking community-based research into women’s experience of financial abuse as a form of intimate partner violence (IPV) in the Toronto area. Despite limited research on financial abuse as […]
June 5, 2018
In November 2017, the Canadian government launched the first ever National Housing Strategy in Canada. As a part of this strategy, the federal government made a commitment to working towards […]
May 4, 2018
The Ontario election is on June 7th and WomanACT is calling for all party leaders and candidates to prioritize issues of gender equity and women’s safety. Approximately every 6 days, […]
May 3, 2018
In November 2017, the Canadian government launched the first ever National Housing Strategy in Canada. As a part of this strategy, the federal government made a commitment to working towards […]
May 2, 2018
Ontario Thrive is a non-partisan coalition of organizations and individuals coming together to ask political leaders and candidates for measurable commitments on gender equity in the Ontario 2018 Election. We want […]
April 3, 2018
On Tuesday, March 6th and Wednesday, March 7th, close to 250 front-line workers from 40 agencies in Toronto’s Violence Against Women (VAW) sector attended the 2018 Supporting Survivors by Supporting Staff (SSxSS) Training […]
September 29, 2017
WomanACT joined a press conference on Thursday September 28th in support of Bill 157, an Act to increase workplace protection for survivors of domestic and sexual violence. London West MPP […]
September 12, 2017
We are excited to announce a new project which will be undertaking intersectional gender-based analysis of public policies to better understand their impacts on survivors and advocate for policy change. […]
March 30, 2017
As part of their annual End Violence Against Women Week, the Woman Abuse Council of Toronto hosted over 250 participants per day for a week of education, training and discussions […]
October 20, 2016
We are happy to support Bill 26 (formerly known as Bill 177), The Domestic and Sexual Violence Workplace Leave and Training Accommodation Act. Bill 26 recognizes the critical intersections between […]
At WomanACT, we are very concerned by the recent announcement by the Ontario Ministry of Education to repeal Ontario’s sexual health education curriculum in September. As an organization committed to women’s […]
Incoming university and college students across Canada are excited to begin a new chapter. Many parents will lecture their children on maintaining healthy study habits, keeping their dorm rooms clean […]