Equality Day: LEAF Celebrates Women in Non-Traditional Work
May 31, 2011, Toronto - The Women's Legal Education and Action Fund, LEAF, will celebrate Equality Day tomorrow with an event honouring eight women who have blazed a trail in non-traditional work.
The event, held on the 26th anniversary of Section 15 (the Equality Clause) in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, will take place at the Bata Shoe Museum, 327 Bloor Street West, in downtown Toronto, from 6 to 8 pm, Wednesday June 1.
Women who enter workplaces that tradition says are "not for them" create substantive equality for women by demonstrating that they can choose from the broad range of occupations available to all persons in Canada. The women to be honoured include a certified welder and steamfitter, mechanic millwright, water plant technician, machinist, chief custodian, electrician, splicer and an aircraft maintenance engineer.
As Sheryl Hoshizaki, Executive Director of LEAF, says, "These women have shown that economic equality means not only equal pay but also gaining access to higher paid jobs. We salute them."
LEAF has been a leader in equality rights for 25 years, intervening in over 150 cases. The decisions in those cases and the legislation that followed has made strides towards equality in reproductive freedoms, pay equity, employment, housing, immigration, family law, sexual violence, sexual orientation and disability accommodation for women and marginalized groups.
-30-
For further information, please contact Sheryl Hoshizaki, LEAF Executive Director, at 416-595-7170 ext 225, or at s.hoshizaki@leaf.ca
http://www.leaf.ca/
No comments:
Post a Comment