Outcomes from the Status of Women Ministers Meeting

There are so many incredible women ministers in each of our provinces, territories and in Ottawa working to support and celebrate women. These are women of all political stripes. COVID has been disproportionately hard on women who most commonly perform the frontline jobs essential to living through this pandemic. Women are also bearing the brunt of finding childcare, which impacts whether or not they can return to work. During COVID we have also seen more violence toward women in NB and across our country, and the calls for help have been more severe. These are some of the important conversations I had over several hours last week when federal, provincial and territorial ministers responsible for the status of women held our annual meeting online Jan. 21 and 22. We signed a declaration for gender-based violence and shared ideas on how to tackle the serious COVID impacts on women.

It is so important we work together as advocates to ensure the safety of New Brunswickers who face violence in their homes and relationships. We’ve seen gender-based violence become more widespread with COVID-19. This forum provided an important opportunity to discuss these timely issues with my counterparts from across the country. I’d like to thank all of the ministers for their dedicated work and collaboration.