On this International Women’s Day (IWD) we give special thanks and recognition to the women and women-identifying members in CUPE Ontario and across our labour movement – for their courage, resilience and continuing dedication to the cause of justice, equality and human rights for all.
The worldwide theme for this year’s IWD is Accelerate Action, and in Ontario it is Fighting for Our Lives, Building Our Resistance – both calls to action that resonate loudly with CUPE members.
Our union is largely a women’s union, with women and women-identifying individuals making up two-thirds of our membership, and more than 90% of CUPE workers in sectors like health care, hospitals, long-term care and child care – the care economy, in fact. The advocacy, determination and commitment of CUPE Ontario members over the years have made sure that women and women-identifying members have an equal voice and presence in our union.
In recent years, however, in our workplaces and in government, we have witnessed greater hostility to the unstoppable rise of equality and human rights. In Ontario, that hostility has taken various forms: the fundamental injustice of Bill 124, the wage-restriction legislation that did such inordinate harm to the wages of women workers; a persistent pay gap of 13% in Ontario; the refusal to take seriously the problems of violence in schools, hospitals, long-term care, and other workplaces in which women make up the bulk of the workforce; the refusal to recognize domestic violence as a health emergency; the Ford Conservatives’ foot-dragging on the implementation of $10-a-day child care and the need for a workforce strategy to ensure enough future child care workers; and the overall hardships inflicted predominantly on women by austerity budgets and privatization.
In CUPE, members have always taken the lead in fighting back against these and other injustices. In our union, we know these challenges aren’t isolated: they are part of right-wing forces that seek to undermine the working class and the progress that women and women-identifying people have fought tirelessly to achieve.
We are proud that some of that progress is being shaped by CUPE Ontario’s Women in Leadership Development (WILD) program, one of the most important initiatives to come out of our Anti-Racism Organizational Action Plan. WILD promotes the inclusion and representation of Indigenous, Black, and racialized women in CUPE and is now inspiring a second cohort of women leaders in our union.
CUPE Ontario Women’s committee is also tackling the issues of that affect the rights and safety of women in the workplace, including gender bias, sexual harassment and violence. The committee’s women’s advocate program identifies and tackles the barriers that women still face in our union and provides options and guidance for overcoming bias and discrimination.
CUPE locals in Ontario are urged to take action on gender justice by making use of the wide range of materials and resources available from CUPE National. These tools will assist local leaders and members in using their collective power to promote and win justice for all women.
On International Women’s Day, we reaffirm our commitment to advocating for gender equality in our workplaces, communities and in our union. It is our privilege, as trade unionists, to amplify the voices of all women and women-identifying individuals. Together, we will continue to challenge the structures that perpetuate discrimination and inequality and fight in solidarity for the rights of all.
