Empowering girls Archives - Page 19 of 33 - Canadian Women's Foundation

Equal to the Task

Equal to the Task

Jessica Howard2017-12-19T16:52:26+00:00September 13, 2016|Empowering girls, Gender-based violence, How to, SHE Magazine|

If we want to reduce sexual assault and dating violence among teens, it’s crucial to discuss why most victims are women and girls without creating gender divisions. Teen healthy relationship programs offer young people of all genders a safe space to discuss stereotypes, gender inequality, and the roots of violence.

It probably wouldn’t come up in a math, science, or English class. But during a workshop on gender dynamics, a boy in ninth grade opened up about something that was bothering him.

“He talked about how difficult hunting is for him,” says Erin Wynn, Coordinator of the Healthy Relationships for Youth program, which runs in 10 schools in rural Nova Scotia. “He said how terrible he feels that he has to be able to skin an animal and do these things that don’t come naturally to him.”

How much will the new school year cost your family?

How much will the new school year cost your family?

Morgan Radbourne2017-12-19T16:52:39+00:00September 8, 2016|Empowering girls, Infographics, Women’s poverty|

For some low-income families, sending kids back to school can break the bank.

Right now, school hallways are probably the cleanest they’ll be all year, but soon the floors will soon be scuffed by the soles of new running shoes and littered with discarded lunches.

Between new books, knapsacks and after-school care, heading back to school is expensive. For single women who are raising children, the cost of a new school year can hit especially hard. About 1 in 5 single mothers in Canada are living on a low income. In 2011, the median annual income for single mothers with children under 6 was $21,200. With little money left after paying for food and rent, many moms are forced to turn down their children’s request for dance lessons and the tech gadgets their friends have.

Creating A New Culture of Body Love, One Page at a Time

Creating A New Culture of Body Love, One Page at a Time

Roz MacLean2017-12-19T16:53:11+00:00September 6, 2016|Empowering girls, Guest bloggers, Women in media|

Like so many girls who grew up with Barbies and princesses for role models, I not only had trouble accepting my own body, but being accepted by others. I was teased in kindergarten for being chubby, because, even at this young age, children knew that it was bad to be fat.

The idea that thin is good and fat is bad is drilled into us from the time we can first understand the toys we love and the images we see on screens. The popular dainty-waisted princess associates thinness with virtuosity, kindness, desirability, specialness, and worthiness of attention.

Why We Ask – Teaching Consent

Why We Ask – Teaching Consent

Nicole Chammartin2017-12-19T16:55:44+00:00July 26, 2016|Empowering girls, Gender-based violence, Guest bloggers, How to, Sexual abuse|

This post was originally published on the Klinic’s blog.

This evening I am again sitting in on a SERC youth session at Peaceful Village, this time at a south end Winnipeg high school. As I mentioned in a previous post, Peaceful Village offers programming that supports integration and literacy for newcomer families and youth, and our partnership with them is funded by the Canadian Women’s Foundation. To learn more please read my first blog on this partnership, Healthy Relationships Start Young.

This is week 9 of the 12 week session and Bre, one of our Sexuality & Reproductive Health Facilitators, invited me to attend because she is so impressed by the thoughtfulness and exuberance of this unique group. In fact, she tells me, last week one of the students started a discussion on the idealization of masculinity and how it affects male youth–this is clearly a young man after my own heart. Today we are talking about consent.

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