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61 results found:

Backgrounder: Race and Gender in the Workplace

Indigenous, Black and Racialized women face unique, intersecting, and compounding forms of gender and racial discrimination that impact their employment opportunities and experiences in the workplace. This brief provides an […]

Issue Brief: Gender-Based Violence Service Provision and Access in Times of Crisis

Crises cause disruptions and changes to structures, systems, and patterns, but the extent and magnitude of the disruptions or changes are rarely understood. This is especially true in prolonged crises […]

Infographic: Navigating the Legal System as Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence

Survivors shared their challenges navigating the legal system on their journey to safety and stability throughout the pandemic in research conducted by WomanACT and University of Guelph. The infographic looks […]

Infographic: Supporting Survivors Navigating the Legal System and Recovery

Survivors shared their challenges navigating the legal system on their journey to safety and stability throughout the pandemic in research conducted by WomanACT and University of Guelph. The infographic looks […]

Policy Backgrounder: Domestic Violence Disclosure Protocols

Domestic violence disclosure ( DVD ) protocols, often referred to as Clare’s Law, provide a process for police to disclose information to someone about their partner’s or ex-partner’s previous history […]

Issue Brief: Older Women Living with Disabilities Experiencing Intimate Partner Violence

Older women living with disabilities face various forms of abuse, often underreported due to barriers like stigma and isolation. This issue brief raises awareness about the structural disadvantages faced by […]

Infographic: Survivors in Toronto’s Rental Market

Survivors living in private rental housing are faring worse than other Toronto renters. The infographic looks at the living conditions of survivors, financial limitations, and eviction related to gender-based violence […]

Successful Tenancies: Exploring Survivors’ Experiences in the Private Rental Market in Toronto

How can rental housing work better for survivors? Gender-based violence is a common cause of homelessness among women and gender-diverse people in Toronto and survivors face unique challenges to housing.  This […]

Infographic: Finding Safe Haven in the City

Housing is critical to survivors’ safety, and there are opportunities for housing providers and landlords to develop policies and practices to protect the tenancies and safety of survivors. Survivors’ experiences […]

Infographic: Violence Against Older Women

Older women face disproportionate rates of violence in their communities and homes. This violence can be physical, emotional, economic, or sexual. This infographic breaks down statistical information about violence against […]

Infographic: Violence Against Older Women Risk Factors and Barriers

Age and gender both significantly impact older women’s experiences of violence. This infographic demonstrates the interplay of gender and age in many areas of an older woman’s life and how […]

Infographic: Promising Practices for Agencies to Engage Older Women

It can be difficult for older women to connect and find appropriate services and supports for their needs. This is because most services lack an understanding of older survivors’ needs […]

Quick Guide for Employers: Domestic Violence and the Workplace

Domestic violence is the fastest growing type of workplace violence in Canada. Domestic violence impacts employees’ ability to maintain employment and be productive at work. Domestic violence also frequently spills […]

Quick Guide for Employees: Domestic Violence and the Workplace

Domestic violence can impact employees’ ability to find and maintain work. It can impact employees’ productivity and safety at work. However, there is workplace legislation in place across Canada to […]

Reducing Stigma: Exploring the intersections between trauma, race and criminalization

Women and gender diverse people in the criminal justice system have high rates of violence and trauma in their lifetime. Trauma can be both a direct and indirect pathway into […]

Intersections between employment and safety among racialized women

Intimate partner violence is closely connected to women’s economic security, including their income, employment, and housing. Research has shown that intimate partner violence both directly and indirectly impacts survivors’ ability […]

Economic abuse information leaflet

Economic abuse can be any form of financial control, abuse, mistreatment, and neglect. Senior immigrant women can have unique experiences of economic abuse because of intersecting identities of gender, age […]

Economic abuse among senior immigrant women: Literature and research report

Senior immigrant women occupy intersecting identities of gender, age and immigration. Each of these have been known to impact experiences of gender-based violence and help seeking. Furthermore, these intersections can […]

Issue brief: Right to housing and violence against women

Violations of the right to housing are largely gendered, with women and gender-diverse people more likely to experience inadequate housing and homelessness. The right to housing is defined as all […]

Infographic: Right to housing and violence against women

The right to housing is more than just a roof over one’s head. It is the right to safe, affordable and permanent housing. Survivors living in violent situations are experiencing […]

Infographic: Women and public transit

Women have different needs and behaviours when it comes to public transit than men. Women tend to take several short trips in one day and often link trips together. Women […]

Infographic: Women and public transit in Toronto

Women are at greater risk of sexual harassment and unwanted attention on public transit. The risk and perceived risk are one of the most influential factors in women’s transit decisions. […]

Issue brief: Women, safety and public transit

Public transit is a gender issue. While women are more likely to use public transit, they also face increased barriers to accessing transit, mainly, risks to their safety. Access to […]

Literature Review: Intersections between employment and safety among racialized women

Intimate partner violence is directly connected to women’s economic security, including survivors’ employment and career progression. Studies show that intimate partner violence is associated with job instability and job loss. […]

Literature Review: Safe STEM Workplaces

The rise of the #MeToo movement has shifted dramatically society’s awareness of gender and sexual harassment, but global rates of gender and sexual harassment remain high. While there are many […]

Infographic: Employment Sabotage

Employment sabotage and disruption can include tactics to prevent a survivor from working as well as making it difficult for a survivor to maintain work. These tactics can be used […]

Intersections between safety and employment: What we heard

Intimate partner violence can have a significant impact on women’s economic security and employment. It can lead to job instability and loss. This can be because of poor mental health, trauma, […]

“A Place of My Own”: Survivors perspectives on the Safe at Home housing model

Most of the housing options for women experiencing intimate partner violence have something in common: they place the onus on women to leave home in order to reach safety. As […]

Issue brief: Employment sabotage and disruption

Intimate partner violence can have an impact on a survivor’s employment. Intimate partner violence can lead to job instability and loss. This can be because of poor mental health, trauma, […]

Infographic: Black women’s experiences of intimate partner violence and criminalization

There is a significant correlation between the experiences of intimate partner violence and criminalization among Black women. Black women with multiple intersecting identities of marginalization such as race, class, citizenship […]

Infographic: Pathways for racialized survivors of intimate partner violence into the criminal justice system

Research shows that experiences of intimate partner violence are a common pathway into the criminal justice system for survivors, especially racialized survivors. Women may be forced into criminal activities by […]

Infographic: Correlations between gender, trauma, criminalization and race in Canada

Racialized women are the fastest growing prison population in Canada and many have experiences of trauma. Women in the criminal justice system often have extensive histories of trauma and prisons […]

Safe at Home Community Conversation: What we Heard

Safe at Home programs support women to remain in their own home or independent housing from leaving a violent relationship. WomanACT conducts research on Safe at Home programs and policies […]

Financial abuse as a form of intimate partner violence: The role of financial services

Financial abuse is a common form of intimate partner violence. Financial abuse can involve restricting access to household income and benefits, withholding financial information, monitoring spending, excluding a partner from […]

A Community Analysis of Risk Assessment Tools for MARAC

Risk assessment in the violence against women sector is a critical strategy to help identify the likelihood of repeat or increased violence and prevent further harm.  As part of the […]

Tech for Women’s Justice Report

While the research base about technology as a means to perpetuate intimate partner violence has grown, there is limited information available about how technology can support women experiencing violence. With […]

A Guide: Promising practices for engaging survivors in research

Community-based research is an approach to research that places community at the forefront and aims to achieve social justice through social action and change. At WomanACT, we are always learning […]

Literature Review: Safe at Home

Most of the housing options for women fleeing violence have something in common: they place the onus on women to leave home in order to reach safety. However, policies and […]

Literature Review: Exploring the intersections between violence against women, access to justice and technology.

Access to justice is a human rights and equity issue that is significant to all Canadians, including women experiencing violence. In the last decade, technology has been identified as a […]

National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence: What we heard

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, we undertook consultations […]

Submission: Renewing the National Strategy for Financial Literacy

Financial well-being has a significant impact on women’s safety. Women’s economic insecurity can marginalize women, increasing their risk of victimization. It is also a barrier to their safety. Financial hardship […]

Community Perceptions: Exploring the practices of risk assessment, information sharing and safety planning

Risk assessment, safety planning and information sharing are common practices in the violence against women sector to help identify the likelihood of repeat or increased violence and prevent further harm. […]

Issue Brief: Information sharing and intimate partner violence in Canada

Multi-agency collaboration, including the development of formal partnership arrangement and information sharing protocols, have been recognized as an approach that increases the effectiveness of services in responding to and reducing […]

Submission for Rapid Housing Initiative

In September 2020, the government of Canada announced the new Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI) to help address the urgent housing needs of vulnerable Canadians by rapidly creating new affordable housing. […]

Issue Brief: Technology-based intimate partner violence

Technology-based intimate partner violence encompasses acts of abuse that are committed with the use of technology to exert power or control over a current or former spouse. While the causes […]

Technology and Gender Based Violence Infographic

Technology and violence against women are closely connected. While technology can help women access information and services, it can also be used to perpetuate violence. This infographic looks at the […]

Technology-Based Gender Based Violence Infographic

Technology creates new ways to perpetuate violence against women, including sending harassing text messages, tracking someone using the GPS on their device or threatening to share someone’s private images without […]

Violence Against Women Sector Survey: Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on survivors of gender-based violence and the organizations that support them. Health and safety measures to curb the spread of the virus […]

Domestic or Sexual Violence Leave

In Ontario, the Employment Standards Act (ESA) outlines various leaves of absence that employees are legally entitles to take. Domestic or sexual violence leave was added to the ESA in […]

Financial Abuse Information Sheet

Financial abuse as a form of intimate partner violence involves behaviours that control a woman’s ability to gain and use economic resources. It is a common tactic used by abusers […]

Financial Abuse: Financially Protecting Yourself

Financial abuse as a form of intimate partner violence involves behaviours that control a woman’s ability to gain and use economic resources. It is a common tactic used by abusers […]

Financial Abuse Infographic

Financial abuse involves behaviours that control a woman’s ability to gain and use economic resources, impacting their ability to be economically independent and self-sufficient. This infographic looks at the different […]

“Hidden in the everyday” – Financial Abuse as a Form of Intimate Partner Violence in the Toronto Area

Despite limited research on financial abuse as a form of intimate partner violence, it is clear that financial abuse is a commonly used form of power and control over women […]

Creating a Gender Equity Strategy and Gender Equality Office for Toronto

Gender inequities still persist across the City of Toronto. Women, girls, trans and non-binary individuals face higher rates of violence and continue to be murdered by their partners and ex-partners […]

Ontario’s Social Assistance Programs: A Violence Against Women Perspective

Poverty and violence against women are interconnected. Poverty marginalizes women, increasing their risk of victimization. Women experiencing violence often experience financial harm, including loss of control over finances and/or limited […]

Canada’s Approach to a Human Rights-Based National Housing Strategy: A Violence Against Women Perspective

Violence against women is one of the main causes of homelessness and housing instability among women and children, and the lack of access to safe and affordable housing is one […]

Policy Impacts on Violence Against Women in Canada: A Review of Literature on Selected Policies

From a public-policy perspective, violence against women will not be solved through a single targeted policy on violence. Public policies shape and create social conditions. Policies can create social conditions […]

VAW Sector Representatives Recommendations: Income Security – A Roadmap for Change

Achieving an income-security system that addresses the structural forces that contribute to women’s inequality is a high priority for Violence against Women sector representatives and is an essential step to […]

Survivors of Domestic Violence – Portable Housing Benefit

Housing is a key barrier to fleeing violence. Survivors commonly face homelessness and housing insecurity. The portable housing benefit pilot program is a provincial initiative that provides survivors of domestic […]

Recommendations for the Canada National Housing Strategy: Supporting Women and Children Experiencing Violence

In 2016, the government of Canada started to pursue the development of a National Housing Strategy and welcomed feedback and input from community organizations across the country. This report explores […]

Policies Matter: Addressing Violence Against Women Through Reflection, Knowledge and Action

The Policies Matter Project undertook a significant gender-based analysis of policy and the impact of policy intersections on women who experience violence, and the project constitutes a remarkable contribution to […]