Applications being accepted for women’s secretariat grant

Supporting Island families -

Funding from the province’s Interministerial Women’s Secretariat is helping groups like the Community Legal Information Association of Prince Edward Island (CLIA) better support Island women and girls.

CLIA executive director David Daughton said his group’s 2017 grant helped turn a good idea – a set of easily understood family law resource materials translated into multiple languages to reflect the province’s diverse population – into a useful resource for vulnerable women. Applications are now being accepted for the 2018 Interministerial Women’s Secretariat grant at www.princeedwardisland.ca/iws-grant.

“It is important to increase awareness about the rights of immigrants and newcomers to Canada when dealing with family law issues,” Daughton said. “Our 'Family Law Matters' project helped us to leverage other funds, to strengthen existing partnerships and to build new alliances.

“Our goal was ambitious and the process has been challenging; success would not have been possible without the province’s support.”

The Interministerial Women’s Secretariat grant is intended to support organizations that:

• provide direct services and programs for the benefit of women;
• support projects that enhance awareness, education and social action on women’s legal, health, social and economic equality; and
• support the capacity of women’s organizations that promote women’s equality through advocacy, research and policy development.

This year’s grant focus consists of two themes: engaging community in gender and diversity analysis, and working with youth on the topic of toxic masculinity.

“The Interministerial Women’s Secretariat Grant has helped build safer, more inclusive, and supportive communities for Island women and girls and strengthened their leadership abilities, voices and confidence,” said Paula Biggar, minister responsible for the Status of Women. “I look forward to continuing to work with community organizations to support issues that face women and girls in our province.”

Since May 2015, the Interministerial Women’s Secretariat has provided over $200,000 in grants to community organizations across the province.

Media contact:
April Gallant
aldgallant@gov.pe.ca

Backgrounder

This year’s Interministerial Women’s Secretariat grants focus on two themes:

1) engaging community in gender and diversity analysis; and

2) working with youth on the topic of toxic masculinity.

What is gender and diversity analysis?

Gender and diversity analysis (GDA) refers to the process of giving attention to how gender and diversity affect the experiences, behaviours and needs of our population. Further, it looks at how to accommodate these differences and needs.

It is evidence-based, meaning that it is based on what is known about women, men, and diverse groups in a particular situation. Because it is based on evidence, GDA also has the potential to give decision makers more information to use to make their decisions.

For more information, please go to: www.princeedwardisland.ca/sites/default/files/publications/gda_manual.final_.pdf

What is toxic masculinity?

Toxic masculinity is a concept in which certain sets of behaviours are promoted in boys and men, to the exclusion of other sets of behaviours. Toxic masculinity can lead to the unbalanced socialization of boys and men into gender roles that idealize toughness, dominance, self-reliance and denigrate emotion, tenderness and love. This can lead to harmful outcomes for men, boys, women, girls, transgender population, and society overall.