DAME (Developing Actions towards Meaningful Employment) is a project of Women's Network PEI, funded by Status of Women Canada.

To improve the level of women's economic equality in Prince Edward Island.

• to create partnerships with Human Resources Development Canada and conduct a a review of services and service delivery to women in PEI,
• to develop a Gender-Based Analysis Checklist, and
• to create a report with findings and recommendations and distribute.

To meet these objectives a steering committee was created. The committee held a one-half day session to gain a common understanding of Gender-Based Analysis (GBA).

The Focus Group Consultant was responsible for collecting information through qualitative research by hearing women's experiences with services and service delivery of HRD. This report is available under a separate cover. The Researcher/Writer's objectives were to work at creating partnership with HRDPEI, to develop a Gender-Based Analysis Checklist and to use GBA to review the services of HRDPEI.

The focus group consultant and the researcher/writer coordinated questioning routes to be able to see comparisons between women and HRDPEI responses.

Part of the researcher's work was to search out current GBA tools which have been used by various government and non-government agencies. The tools which have been researched and utilized are listed in Appendix VI.

One of the very first things identified was the need for the Advisory Committee to have working knowledge and our own definition of Gender- Based Analysis. Julie Devon Dodd was selected to do a presentation to the Advisory committee and staff working on DAME. We set about identifying the outline of what we would like the workshop to look like and Ms. Dodd gave us a proposed agenda which covered the areas we felt were needed to give everyone the same basic working knowledge of GBA (Gender-Based Analysis Workshop, Appendix III).

We found many barriers which impede employment for women on PEI. These include:

• economic situation,
• cultural,
• aboriginal ancestry,
• economic sexual orientation,
• physical and mental ability,
• health and family status,
• age,
• language,
• religion,
• geographical factor (rural, urban), and
• immigration status.

These barriers were identified by women who are disenfranchised through the focus groups and the interviews with employment counsellors who worked directly with the women. Having identified these barriers, women still want to further themselves economically and socially for the benefit of their families and the communities that they live in.

Employment counselors identified two barriers to service delivery that finances for resources and staffing would greatly benefit the organizations with whom they assist and that the realities of women's lives needs to be taken into consideration in employment.

This leads back to the services that are available through HRDPEI and the manner in which they are administered. HRD has a GBA policy but in theory uses an "engendered" framework. This leads to viewing women and men as the same and not taking into consideration that there is diversity in their lives: this is equal treatment not equitable treatment.

Findings of this Report

At the beginning of the research, the employment counsellors were quite willing to meet and talk about what the concerns of their organizations were. This process was very helpful in documenting the situation for women in PEI with respect to employment and the obstacles tat women have to overcome.

In reviewing the material collected through the research and interviews, along with the focus groups, there were common themes that ran throughout the course of this report.

Overall, HRDPEI is providing services which as a whole appears to be meeting the needs of the community and the clients. It seems to be consistent throughout the HRD centres in the province. The clients were satisfied with the majority of areas although there are some concerns to be addressed.

Women identified the following barriers that continue to be obstacles that impede employability:

• lack of respect for basic human needs/dignity,
• cultural,
• aboriginal ancestry,
• sexual orientation,
• physical and mental abilities,
• health/family status,
• age,
• language,
• religion,
• rural/urban areas,
• immigration status,
• sexual harassment/discrimination,
• poverty,
• underemployment,
• lack of access toeducation/retraining
• narrow criteria to meet for retraining,
• lack of accessible adequate housing, and
• inaccessible childcare.

These barriers cross all borders and impede women's ability to further themselves economically and socially.

The restructuring of Employment Insurance has affected the disbursement of funds allocated to women who are already disenfranchised. There is little access to funding for retraining and education for women if they do not meet the criterial for EI. The criteria appears narrow and limiting based on women's trouble getting employment and the number of hours required to qualify for EI and hence opportunities for training and education are affected.

Women want to further themselves in order to improve their economic status, as well as for their families and the communities in which they reside. When women are financially independent,there are positive effects all around:

• self-esteem,
• sense of purpose/accomplishment,
• community contributions,
• healthier family/lifestyles,
• lower stress, and
• self satisfaction in employment.

Many of the employment counsellors identified that finances for additional resources and staffing would greatly benefit the female clients of the organizations. Also, that the realities of women's lives should be taken into consideration.

This brings us back to the services that are available through HRDPEI and the manner in which they are administered. HRDC has a GBA policy at the federal level, but continues to view women and men as "engendered" for services and service delivery.

a. Common Barriers

Throughout the research, there have been identified barriers which are common to all the women in the specified population:

• economic situation,
• discrimination,
• family and health status,
• geographical status,
• lack of education/training,
• low self esteem,
• family violence, and
• age.

Although these are common, they are also impacted with unique barriers specific to the population. These are the barriers that women across the board deal with on a daily basis when attempting to gain and maintain sustainable employment.

b. Unique Barriers

As well as the above mentioned barriers there are the barriers which are specific to women within the specified population that compounds the complexities of women's situation:

• cultural background,
• aboriginal ancestry,
• immigration status,
• language,
• religion,
• physical and mental disabilities, and
• sexual orientation.

When common barriers and unique barriers co-exist ( a common occurrence), this can create what appears to be insurmountable obstacles for women to overcome.

Discrimination is the one barrier which exists in both areas and because it crosses all borders, both for women and men. But as women are already economically disenfranchised it only serves to push women further away from equality; economically and socially.

Recommendations

The following recommendations are a result of the research, data collection, focus groups and interviews with employment counsellors:

• dialogue with HRD regarding their policies for flexibility in accessing employment, education and retraining,
• partner with CED, HRDPEI and the designated population of women to create meaningful, sustainable employment on PEI to develop and implement Power Groups for women using the CED framework,
• develop Gender-Based Analysis workshops with federal and provincial governments, unions, private and public sector to educate and increase awareness of women's requirements for sustainable, equitable employment using Gender-Based sensitivity and the GBA Checklist developed in DAME I, and
• create an employment counsellor position at Women's Network to assist women with accessing employment services and opportunities.

• Gender Based Analysis Checklist
  
  

mailing address:
P.O. Box 233,
Charlottetown, PEI C1A 7K4

phone: (902) 368-5040
fax: (902) 368-5039
e-mail: wnpei@wnpei.org