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 eliminating violence against women. Gender, income inequality and violence against women are interconnected. Violence can keep women in conditions of poverty and economic dependence, and poverty or fear of poverty can limit women’s choices and keep them from leaving abusive situations.
This policy brief is a response to Income Security: A Roadmap for Change, a provincial report that lays out recommendations and directions for the future of an income-security system in Ontario. The policy response makes recommendations in relation to a housing benefit and social-assistance programs.
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 that reinforce gender inequality and produce violence against women. Policies can also negatively impact women experiencing violence by limiting women’s access to determinants of safety such as housing and income security.
This literature review presents an overview of the impacts of selected federal and provincial policies on violence against women. The literature review finds that women are regularly required to prove or verify their abuse in order to obtain support or services; that policies do not always reflect the gendered experience of immigration, poverty and homelessness; and that policies often reproduce conditions of women’s economic insecurity and financial dependence.
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 ability to access employment. Without access to income, housing or employment, poverty can trap women in abusive relationships. Furthermore, financial hardship after leaving an abusive relationship is a near-universal experience for women.
This policy brief analyzes the impacts of the current Ontario social-assistance programs and makes recommendations to improve social-assistance programs to meet the needs of women across the province. In preparation for this policy brief, we held an open forum on Social Assistance Reform and Women in September 2018 in Toronto, which was attended by more than 40 agencies, advocates, researchers and women with lived experience of violence from across the city.
As cases of COVID-19 surge across the province, several regions have been placed in lockdown and Ontarians are being told to stay home in order to stay safe. Residential tenants cannot follow this advice if they are being evicted from their homes. Not all tenants face the same risk of eviction. Low-income and racialized women, survivors of domestic violence, and women-led households are disproportionately affected by evictions.
We are pleased to see Ontario MPPs vote unanimously in support of a motion for a residential evictions moratorium.
We are now calling on Premier Ford to immediately sign an emergency order that will reinstate the ban on evictions.
The Canadian MARAC, Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference, project is coordinating a multi-agency response to high-risk domestic violence in three communities.
The Canadian MARAC is a multi-agency meeting that brings together community agencies to share information on high-risk domestic violence cases. Based on the risks and needs identified by the survivor and professionals around the table, a safety plan is developed for the survivor that includes actions by community agencies to increase the survivor’s safety.
The Canadian MARAC is an adaptation of the MARAC that was developed in Wales in 2003 and is now in place in more than 250 communities across the United Kingdom. The model has shown to reduce repeat victimization, increase survivor safety and connect survivors with the support and services they need.
WomanACT is leading the pilot implementation of the Canadian MARAC in communities across Ontario.
Related:
A Community Analysis of Risk Assessment Tools for MARAC
This project has been funded through Women and Gender Equality Canada
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 at a substantially higher rate than men. Women are more likely to be unemployed, in precarious work and still make less money than their male counterparts. And yet, they make up 52% of the population. The experience of being a Torontonian is indeed gendered, and these experiences are further impacted by race, immigration status, disability, sexuality and socio-economic status.
Despite a long history of women’s policy advocacy, the idea that women’s interests should be incorporated into the policy process is still relatively new. Integrating an intersectional gender analysis to policies, services and programs requires dedicated time, resources, capacity building, constant community engagement as well as a willingness for change. Our deputation to the Executive Committee reinforced the need for a Gender Equity strategy across the City of Toronto.