Should the leaders of Canada’s major political parties have a televised debate focusing on women’s issues to help inform the Canadian Electorate prior to the oncoming federal election? Panelists brought to Hart House by Oxfam U of T responded with a resounding yes.

On November 25^th, Oxfam U of T brought several representatives of civil society organizations to talk about the issues women are currently facing, what can be done to solve them, and why this merits a televised debate by federal leaders. Professor Judith Taylor of U of T’s Women and Gender Studies institute acted as a moderator for the panel. Panelists included Margaret Hancock, chair of Oxfam Canada, Paulette Senior, CEO of YWCA Canada, Darlene Ritchie, Director of Operations for the Atlohsa Native Family Healing Services, Carol Allain, Sistering’s Manager of Drop In Services, and Niki Ashton, NDP MP for Churchill and critic on the Status of Women.

There is no question that women face many issues in Canada, and worldwide, that will need significant public and political will to reach resolution. Women in poverty, homeless women, intimate partner violence and sexual assault, and the wage gap are all significant problems that we have to confront if we want to be a truly equal society. Internationally, women’s rights revolve around ending violence against women as a weapon of war, maternal health and availability of family planning services, and the global difference in poverty levels by gender – women are more likely to experience serious poverty, especially if they have children. Human trafficking is also a serious issue that significantly impacts women more than men.

The YWCA and Sistering are great organisations that offer shelter beds, meals, counseling, and even just a place to have a shower for marginalized and homeless women. They also offer assistance with reclaiming children who have been taken by the state, and help finding permanent housing. These are truly great organisations doing incredibly valuable work. Sistering had served 48,000 meals by September of this year.

The panelists all echoed several concerns: that women’s rights haven’t advanced significantly in the last few decades, and that this generation is not doing enough to push for gender equality. They also spoke extensively for the need for an inquiry into the hundreds of aboriginal women who have gone missing and been killed, and for the necessity of building a network of women’s shelters from coast to coast.

The Oxfam Up for Debate campaign is about demanding that leaders tackle issues of inequality, rather than sweeping them under the rug and hoping they’ll get better on their own. NDP MP Niki Ashton also spoke to what women can do to get the message out there, citing Twitter as a great way of campaigning and making your voice heard. She said “For me, twitter is like therapy – I scroll through it while I’m sitting in question period, which is a very oppressive experience most of the time – and I get to read about what young women are doing.”

It’s true, the majority (by far) of Canadian MPs are men – time for us ladies to step up. But for the moment, if you believe there should be a leader’s debate on women’s issues you can check out the website here: http://upfordebate.ca/ and sign the petition to make your voice be heard.