This report, researched in collaboration with the Samuel Centre for Social Connectedness, explores the status of young women and those experiencing gender-based discrimination in the Canadian economy amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. It seeks to capture the unique and intersectional experiences of young leaders nation-wide to examine how varying inequalities can forge layers of disadvantage and barriers to economic agency. The perspectives of research participants were consequently used to fashion policy recommendations to promote a young feminist economic recovery for Canadian society.
What does Canada's 2023 Federal Budget mean for young women and those marginalized by their gender in Canada? Fora's Research Assistant, Kassandra Neranjan, takes a detailed look at the Canadian Parliament's newly released 2023 Federal Budget, specifically from an intersectional lens of how it impacts the agency, autonomy, and leadership of young women and those navigating gender-based discrimination.
We face a world beset with unprecedented challenges. A climate in crisis. Spiking inequality. Democracy and human rights under attack. Misinformation weaponized to provoke fear and hatred. We need bold, audacious ideas from bold, audacious leaders if we’re to effectively take back the future.
Being a Black woman in the non-profit sector can often feel like walking a tightrope with a mask on: balancing authenticity while trying to avoid stereotypes, deciding between emotional perseveration and the emotional labour of standing against performative anti-racism, and being forced to compartmentalize our collective trauma and ignore tokenism for the sake of upward mobility at work.
WRITTEN BY: Ariana Seferiades Prece, 2022 Social Connectedness Fellow. Ariana is partnered with Fora: Network for Change and working on our Feminist Economic Recovery project.
Across the board, there have been urgent calls to “build back better” from the pandemic, and seize the momentum to advance a more sustainable and equitable society. Research shows that going down this path demands real intergenerational collaboration, with young women and underrepresented youth at the centre of the pandemic recovery efforts.
Fora’s Program Officer, Maxime Matthew speaks to two young climate advocates on the intersection between gender equality and climate advocacy, and the importance of youth leadership in finding sustainable solutions to the climate crisis.
While Fora is committed to advocating for and celebrating Black women and gender diverse leaders year-round, this Black History Month we are shining the spotlight on six inspiring Black women in the Fora community who are driving change locally and globally. Fora's Program Officer, Maxime Matthew sat down with Anna-Kay Russell du Toit, Brianna Nelson, Lindsey Alcy, Nyasha Duri, Schekina Israel, and Tiyi Ayeva for an in-depth conversation about meaningful allyship, and to share ideas on how the Black community can support and uplift each other in professional and academic spaces. They share insights on the causes they advocate for and advice for other young Black leaders.
The Resource List for Black Young Women and Gender Diverse Youth has been compiled by Fora: Network for Change and is shared with the community as one of our initiatives during Black History Month in February 2022.
Today we are sharing an update to our Equity Action Plan to highlight the ways in which we have progressed towards our goals of enhancing equity and inclusion within our organization. We are also sharing our goals for the next year. This report is a reflection of our ongoing commitment towards improving the equity of our programming, operations, and organization as a whole. We recognize that though measures have been implemented, critical reflection, collection of feedback, and ongoing improvements will continue to be necessary as we strive towards creating an equitable community for all individuals.
The landscape of employability and work has been greatly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This is evident in the expansion of health care structures due to the increased demand of health care services and resources in response to the pandemic. Notably, the service industry has also experienced drastic change, suffering many losses due to several lockdowns and restrictions. With this, young women and gender diverse youth within Canada continue to navigate economic vulnerability in these disrupted sectors. As a result, there has been a surge of young women seizing entrepreneurial opportunities, in order to gain and foster economic mobility in their lives.
Over the past two years we have seen a seismic shift across the world, and we have heard calls from our community, rightly demanding more from the gender equality movement. And with this, G(irls)20 has evolved.
August 9 is recognized by the United Nations as the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. In 2021, the United Nations is calling for states to create new social contracts in collaboration with their Indigenous peoples to address the systemic discrimination that is experienced by many Indigenous nations and communities across the world.
We’re launching Next Level — G(irls)20’s response to this urgent disruption caused by COVID-19. Through this pilot program, we will provide young women and non-binary youth from the retail and hospitality sectors in Canada with leadership and social entrepreneurship training along with supportive coaching to navigate the changing economy on their own terms.
Before the pandemic, 95% of employed young women* in Canada were working in the services sector. Young women were the first to be sent home, and the last to return to work as things begin to reopen.
Today, young women are the furthest group from returning “back to normal” in the workforce. Young women are suffering employment losses three times the national average.
At G(irls)20, we’re often running applications for programs or helping out our friends with job applications. We hear the same thing often: It can be tough speaking about yourself and tying your informal and formal experiences. Worse, the impacts of COVID-19 have bled into networking and coffee chats— making it even more difficult to learn the art of selling yourself. But this is a skill that you can master if you ask yourself the right questions.
With the launch of our strategic plan, the rebrand underway, and a new program to announce shortly, it’s been a busy first half of the year at G(irls)20! Today, I wanted to share some news with you about our Global Summit.
In preparation for the Commission on the Status of Women, we released five recommendations that world leaders must address to include young women and their full participation in decision-making spaces.
Young women have been disproportionately affected by the economic and social impacts of COVID-19 in Canada. Young women (18-24 years old) made up 59% of the total job losses when the pandemic began, and as of last month, young women are suffering employment losses three times worse than the national average –the furthest of any demographic away from pre-COVID numbers.
On March 15 to 26, the sixty-fifth session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) took place with one of the priority themes on “women’s full and effective participation in decision-making in public life”. The CSW is instrumental in promoting women’s rights, documenting the reality of women’s lives throughout the world, and shaping global standards on gender equality and the empowerment of women. The two-week-long gathering ended with the Report of the Secretary-General (Final Report), an outcome document that lists recommendations that the Member States will abide by.
“The whole idea of the project saying that young women are important to have on boards and our opinion is important. We’re not just doing this for you to show up and be a warm body in a seat - we want you to participate because you can actually impact [this space] and make things better. I internalized that my ideas are important and I can add value to anything we are working on. That was the biggest and longest lasting impact.”
– Young Director
As we close the chapter on 2020, I want to stop and reflect on how this year has changed G(irls)20 as an organization and how we have adapted to and have risen above the challenges that 2020 presented.
Lamia Mounavaraly is this year’s G(irls)20 delegate for France who has found her feminism and empowers young women living in her community in the French territory, La Réunion.
Diwali celebrates light, and this year the Diwali Awards, 2020 shone a spotlight on G(irls)20 as an organization that strengthens the Canada-India ties and empowers young women to continue to initiate change at a global level. This year, G(irls)20 was honored to be selected to receive the Roy MacLaren Humanitarian Award.
G(irls)20 brings young women from around the world each year to advocate for the G20 to take an intersectional gender lens on key commitments. In October 2020, we outlined our recommendations in our Communique: https://girls20.org/summit2020
There are not many spaces for young people to access leadership roles, training and support early in their careers. There are even fewer spaces for young Black people, to share their ideas, thoughts, lived experiences and stories. Becoming a board member was both exciting and scary, but it’s also allowed me to think critically about what leadership looks like. It takes a lot for many of us to get a seat at the table, to be in decision-making roles and spaces. It also takes a lot for many of us to stay in spaces that don’t reflect our lived experiences.
June 2020 will be known for the month when communities around the world mobilized in support of #BlackLivesMatter. One crowdsourced map identifies 4,071 cities or towns in which a demonstration in support of the movement was held in July alone.
The nonprofit sector has a unique role to play in this movement. Within the sector, discrimination is reproduced in various ways. Research has pointed out how Black, Indigenous and Women of Colour (“BIWOC”) are over-represented on the frontlines and not in leadership positions in the sector. When there are BIWOC leaders, they have less access to philanthropic dollars.
Since the Girls on Boards program was launched in 2017, G(irls)20 has worked with Young Directors, Coaches, and Board Mentors to measure the impact and identify the challenges of the program. Through 2019 we worked with evaluation consultants who took a deep-dive into the experiences of our second (2018-2019) cohort’s experiences. We want to share with you, our community, about what we learned.