This is from another listserve I subscribe to, thought I might be of
interest to this list.  Please contact them directly for more information.
I apologize for cross postings.
Kerrie Duncan
Peel Health


-----Original Message-----
From:   Pamela Roy [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
<mailto:[mailto:[log in to unmask]]>
Sent:   Wednesday, March 08, 2000 2:06 PM
To:     [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Subject:        Are Atlantic Canadian Women Falling Behind? A Call to Action

(Call is also available on line at www.medicine.dal.ca/mcewh
<http://www.medicine.dal.ca/mcewh> )
The Maritime Centre of Excellence for Women's Health presents ...
Are Atlantic Canadian Women Falling Behind? A Call to Action For Women's
Health & Well Being In
Atlantic Canada, International Women's Day, March 8, 2000
International Women's Day ...
is a time for all Canadians who are separated by cultural, spiritual,
ethnic, linguistic & economic boundaries to come together to celebrate, to
reflect upon our collective progress, & on those areas of our society which
we value. In Atlantic Canada, it is a time to celebrate the strengths of our
unique Atlantic culture: the generosity, the dedication to family &
community which makes our region so wonderfully resilient despite
significant & long standing economic hardships.Yet as we celebrate this
history it is also a moment to reflect on our future. Considering that the
overall health & well being of women, children & families in Atlantic Canada
remains far behind the rest of Canada, how can we make the best strategic
investments for the health & welfare of future generations of Atlantic
Canadian women, & ultimately, the children & families connected to them?
In recognition ... of International Women's Day 2000 & of the health
challenges unique to our Atlantic region, the Maritime Centre of Excellence
for Women's Health, its research associates & partners throughout Atlantic
Canada present A Call To Action For Women's Health & Well Being In Atlantic
Canada. The Call, based upon recent Atlantic-wide policy discussions on
women's health & well being, reflects the input of over 200 senior
representatives from clinical, community, academic, political & policy
sectors in Atlantic Canada & focuses on the most urgent areas for improving
the health of Atlantic Canadian women.
Background ...
This call to action reflects findings presented in A Statistical Portrait of
Women's Health in Atlantic Canada, a study commissioned by the MCEWH . The
study recognizes that new & creative measures are required to assess
societal progress & to enhance family & community health; it also supports
the notion that strategic social investments, for example in low income
single mothers & their families, teenage female smokers, care givers, & in
our environment, will, like investments in senior populations twenty years
ago, yield significant long term dividends to society & will be more
cost-effective than any other kind of investment! The work demonstrates the
need for greater gender based analysis in order to assess how health policy
& programs impact upon women & men differently; the need for greater
investment in social determinants of health research; the need to study how
inequity & gender impact upon health.The research also demonstrates that
prevention & health promotion work saves lives - and money.
Are Atlantic Canadian Women Falling Behind? Consider the facts ...
Atlantic Canadian women have considerably higher stress rates than Atlantic
Canadian men; they also have the highest rates of blood pressure in the
country ...Atlantic Canadian women have higher rates of pay inequity; one
province has the highest rate of pay inequity in Canada, where women earn
only 78.8% of what men earn.Atlantic Canadians have higher rates of
environmental illness, including the rate of cancers & asthma, than
elsewhere in Canada. Maritime women also have the highest rates of female
cancer deaths in the country ... Atlantic Canadian teenage girls are smoking
at increasingly alarming rates - 38% of teenagers smoke. ... Atlantic
Canadian women have doubled their work force participation, yet their share
of unpaid work has hardly changed since 40 years ago. ... Atlantic Canada is
attracting "less than its fair share" of Canadian health research dollars -
though we make up 8.2% of the Canadian population, the region receives only
2.9% of all Medical Research Funding in Canada & only 4.7% of all Social
Sciences & Humanities Research Funding. ... Atlantic Canadian women more
than men have been excluded from the bulk of health research to
date.Atlantic Canadian single mothers & children are the poorest in our
society - Newfoundland & Nova Scotia rank 1st & 2nd in Canada in terms of
having the highest female & child poverty rates in Canada.
A Call to Action For Women's Health & Well Being In Atlantic Canada
We call upon Atlantic Canadians & government to support policy-based health
research in Atlantic Canada with an emphasis on those who live in
disadvantaged circumstances - particularly women & children who live in
poverty, in rural & isolated communities; caregivers, Black, Aboriginal &
immigrant women & families; We call upon policy makers & government ... to
make strategic social investments in women's health, employment, pay equity,
well women's clinics and increased access to prevention health services; to
support programs for single mothers & caregivers; to initiate smoking
cessation programs targeted to female teenagers; to support initiatives to
protect the integrity of our natural environment; to recognize and "count"
the value of women's unpaid work. We call upon researchers ...in academic,
community & clinical environments to continue their commitments to
participatory action research & their consideration of the diversity of
factors influencing our health in this region; to work in partnerships
throughout our region; to strengthen the profile & capacity of Atlantic
Canadian research to enhance our competitiveness in national research
competitions such as the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR).We
call upon communities ...to continue in their commitments to democracy, to
participating in government & having their voices heard.We call upon
"systems" ... to continue progress towards inclusion of the people &
communities they serve.
More Background ...
Health & poverty ...
In 1999, Canadians once again celebrated Canada's ranking by the United
Nations as first in the world for overall human development. But when
poverty was taken into account, Canada's ranking slipped to 10th. Despite
the Canadian government's commitment to eliminate child poverty by the year
2000, the situation has only worsened. Poverty still lives in Canada and it
takes its hardest toll on women and children. Historically, women have been
the ones among us who have cared - for our communities, our environment, and
our children.It is a contribution of caring our society could simply not
survive without. Yet it is precisely women and the children they care for
who remain the poorest of all Canadians. The cycle of poverty and poor
health is undeniably -poverty is the most reliable predictor of poor health
& premature death.  Health & the environment ...
While environmental contamination has been linked to a variety of effects in
wildlife, the links between the environment and human health are limited by
political and social barriers. The idea that humans are"outside" of the
natural environment, or even "above" it, limits our recognition of the
connections between what we eat, drink, breathe and are otherwise exposed
to, and the state of human health. The truth is, we are living in a toxic
soup of our own making. Though women have been the ones to own the tradition
of caring, for the environment, ultimately, the well-being of women is
intimately connected to the health of their spouses, parents and children,
and of the community as a whole.
Caregivers ...
A recent result of Canadian health care reform is a shift in health care
from institutions to communities, and to families in particular. When
seniors, the disabled and the chronically ill receive less institutional
care, more responsibility is transferred to their caregivers - in most
cases, family members, 66% of whom are women. Yet governments are
redirecting only a fraction of savings from hospital closures to programs
that support informal family care in the community. It is estimated that the
needs of family caregivers are likely to be greatest, and the resources
fewest, in small communities and in rural areas.
Youth & smoking ...
A gender based analysis reveals that teenage smoking rates have been rising
faster among girls than boys. In Nova Scotia, 38% of high school girls
smoked in 1998, up dramatically from 26% in 1991. We also know that lung
cancer mortality among women today is five times higher than it was in 1970,
that women smokers are more than twice as susceptible to lung cancer as male
smokers, and that teen smoking predicts adult behaviour. Surveys also tell
us that young women have more than twice the stress rates of young men, and
that stress relief and weight loss are primary motivations for smoking among
teenage girls. Programs, brochures, materials, and counseling that
acknowledge these gender-specific motivations and consequences are more
likely to be effective than blanket statements about the health effects of
smoking.
Mental health ...
Atlantic Canadian Women are stressed out and psychiatric illness accounts
for more hospital days than any other illness. 38% of employed mothers
report "severe time stress" levels as they continue to do the same amount of
housework they did 40 years ago.
Health services for women ...
Only 3% of health budgets are allocated for prevention and health promotion.
In the past 20 years, women-specific health services have greatly improved
screening and prevention for woman-specific conditions including breast
cancer and cervical screening. We urgently need additional resources to
address and prevent conditions that adversely and uniquely affect women
across the lifespan (i.e. teenage pregnancy, teenage smoking, women's
midlife health).
Pamela Roy
Program Officer, Communications and Community Liaison
Maritime Centre of Excellence for Women's Health
Phone: 420-6748   Fax:  420-6752

Visit our website at www.medicine.dal.ca/mcewh
<http://www.medicine.dal.ca/mcewh>
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- Antoine de Saint Exupery