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October 31, 1997

MINISTERS RESPONSIBLE FOR STATUS OF WOMEN FOCUS ON ACHIEVING EQUALITY FOR WOMEN

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia  -- Federal-Provincial/Territorial (FPT) Ministers Responsible for the Status of Women concluded their 16th Annual Meeting today with an agreement to continue to work together to address issues of central importance to achieving equality for women.

At the meeting, co-chaired by the Honourable Hedy Fry, Secretary of State (Status of Women) and the Honourable Francene Cosman, Status of Women Minister for Nova Scotia, Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to end violence against women and their children, agreeing upon a framework for discussion to guide work at the FPT level on this issue. They shared innovative strategies undertaken in their jurisdictions and agreed to continue to share new approaches and strategies to advance violence prevention. Ministers also discussed the importance of increased awareness of stalking and appropriate responses.

Ministers also endorsed British Columbia's public education project designed in consultation with young women to help them understand their unique financial challenges and actively plan for their own economic security.

At their meeting, Ministers released Economic Gender Equality Indicators, a set of benchmarks that measure total workload, including unpaid work as well as paid work, reflecting the differences between women and men in the areas of income, work and learning, and also agreed to their periodic update. Ministers agreed that the Indicators will be an effective tool for analysing policy from a gender perspective such as in the analysis of pension reform or labour market strategies.

They also discussed the possible reform of the provocation defence in the Criminal Code and shared information about other initiatives in their jurisdictions and collaborative approaches to increase women's access to justice.

The next meeting of Federal-Provincial/Territorial Ministers is scheduled to be held in Yellowknife in 1998.

Annual Federal/Provincial/Territorial Meeting of Ministers responsible for the Status of Women, Halifax, Nova Scotia, October 30 & 31, 1997