Jessica Howard, Author at Canadian Women's Foundation

About Jessica Howard

Jessica Howard is Manager, Content and Web at the Canadian Women’s Foundation. Having worked as a journalist, blogger, content strategist and university instructor, she believes that storytelling is key to social change. As a mother of two sons, she is also highly knowledgeable about Lego, Star Wars and Superheroes.

How to help your teen recognize unhealthy online relationships

How to help your teen recognize unhealthy online relationships

Jessica Howard2017-12-19T17:38:26+00:00August 12, 2015|Empowering girls, Gender-based violence, How to|

For anyone who knows a teenager, it won’t come as a shock that one quarter of kids age 13 to 17 are online “almost constantly.”

A lot of that time is spent communicating with friends and peers: texting, Instagramming and Snapchatting. And for parents, a lot of that communication goes unseen and unheard.

Although parents can’t possibly monitor all of their children’s online interactions, they can help set the tone for healthy online relationships.

Sex-trafficking Roundtable: A First for Atlantic Canada

Sex-trafficking Roundtable: A First for Atlantic Canada

Jessica Howard2023-05-29T19:09:37+00:00July 21, 2015|Gender-based violence, Human trafficking, Sexual abuse|

(Photo: Denise John, Victim Support Navigator at the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre in Halifax, was one of the participants at the Canadian Women’s Foundation’s recent roundtable discussion on sex trafficking.)

Windsor, Nova Scotia, is known as the “birthplace of hockey” and is famous for its giant pumpkins. The population of the town, which is an hour from Halifax, is around 3,700.

When veteran officer Luc Côté got stationed at the Windsor RCMP detachment in April, it was “a bit shocking” to learn his colleagues were working on a sex-trafficking case.

Women’s poverty is everyone’s business

Women’s poverty is everyone’s business

Jessica Howard2022-01-19T17:12:33+00:00July 2, 2015|Infographics, SHE Magazine, Women’s poverty|

Is poverty a problem in a well-off country like Canada? Unfortunately, the answer is yes. Especially for women.

Although Canada is a relatively wealthy country, about 1 in 10 Canadians are living on a low income, and 1.5 million of those living on a low income are women. As the infographic below shows, the incidence of poverty is even higher for particular groups of women.

There are two main reasons women tend to be poorer than men:

Five ways parents can teach healthy relationship skills

Five ways parents can teach healthy relationship skills

Jessica Howard2017-12-19T18:40:29+00:00May 22, 2015|Empowering girls, Gender-based violence, How to|

You’re 14 and you’re at a party. A group of friends come up to you and one pulls out a cigarette. “Wanna smoke?” she asks, as she lights up and starts passing it around.

You don’t want to get in trouble for smoking. But you also don’t want to get “unfriended” for not smoking.

How do you respond? How do you teach your children to respond?

This is the kind of question participants discuss in the teen healthy relationships programs that are funded by the Canadian Women’s Foundation. The programs teach strategies for developing boundaries, empathy, assertiveness and conflict resolution -- skills that parents can also teach at home.

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