An advocacy group has released a brief to draw attention to issues during the election period.
The brief contains three different sections which include how many women have run and been elected in provincial elections since 1982, and responding to and rebuilding from COVID-19.
Beth Lyons is the executive director of the New Brunswick Women’s Council.
“We would love there to be more discussion of these issues in general. We would love to see them inform what parties are talking about and whatever government forms, taking these recommendations seriously.
The brief contains past recommendations to government that still require attention and action. Some of the recommendations include moving minimum wages to reflect a living wage, bringing social assistance rates in line with Canada’s official poverty line.
Since 2018 there are fewer women candidates overall which Lyons said is related to women staying home to be caregivers.
The brief notes women are also less likely to return to the workforce post-COVID-19.
“If the pandemic has shown us anything, it’s that we’re interdependent, that we’re only as safe as our most vulnerable, so it’s just good policymaking and a safety measure to put the most vulnerable and marginalized in the centre of our work on this,” she said.
Lyons said public disclosure on gender-based analysis is important when it comes to making policies.
“These things could have differential impacts on different populations, not just based on gender but also race, socio-economic standing, language, ability. It’s really critical to making sure that we’re understanding how policies, processes are going to impact all New Brunswickers in different ways,” she said.
The brief is available online at the Womens’ Council of NB website.
