Attack of the 5-foot woman

Women's Studies facing the axe

Economic downturns tend to hit women harder then men.

The latest shining example is the University of Guelph is considering cutting Women’s Studies as it deals with a major budget shortfall.

The university’s bachelor of arts programs committee just voted to eliminate the women’s studies program. The decision still has to be approved by the board of undergraduate studies and the university senate before the program would be cut.

Cutting women’s studies will only save about $100,000 per year. That’s only going to save less than 0.17% of their expected $46 million budget shortfall. 

Women’s Studies is the only major in the University that’s on the chopping block. (It’s hard to imagine any university seriously considering cutting it’s History program.)

Several people, including the ladies at The Miss G Project - who have been working to get a Women’s and Gender Studies course into high schools - are raising the alarm about the proposed program cut.

They are encouraging people to:

1. Sign the Petition “Save Women’s Studies at the University of Guelph”

2. Join the Facebook group with example letters, email addresses and info if you would like to write an email to the admin at U of G or just get a better idea of what’s going on.

3. Read and pass on this important Call To Action.

The current recession is being used as an excuse to axe a 30 year-old program that is no longer valued by the school.

But Women’s and Gender Studies programs can combat all kinds of oppression through education, including sexism, homophobia, racism, classism, and ablism.

Let’s hope this budget cut doesn’t make it through.

Celebrating womyn!

I’ll be off next week, and I’ve been rushing around trying to get everything done on time.

I couldn’t leave my beloved blog without sending out one quick reminder about International Women’s Day this weekend.

A great group of local agencies that work on women’s issues have teamed up to screen a fascinating line-up of international films on Saturday.

So come on out to enjoy the movies and make a small donation to help cover the costs.

After all International Women’s Day comes but once a year.

I’ll see you there.

Legal legacy

View this photo Today is the 27th anniversary of the first woman, Bertha Wilson, being appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Bertha was an amazing woman. She was a feminist, out-spoken judge who greatly impacted women’s rights in Canada.

She handed down rulings that let unmarried women claim an equal share of their partner’s property, and considered self-defence from a battered woman’s perspective. She backed a woman’s right to chose in her 1988 decision when the Morgentaler ruling struck down Canada’s ban on abortion. Wilson also chaired a Canadian Bar Association task force on gender equality in the legal profession in 1994.

When she passes away almost two years ago, there was some great coverage of her pioneering career.