he Prairie Women's Health Centre of Excellence is pleased to announce 
the release of two new papers on Women and Social Assistance Policy in

Saskatchewan and Manitoba.  These papers are available online at our 
website http://www.pwhce.ca/incomeAssistance.htm 

The first paper, */Income Assistance Policies in Saskatchewan and 
Manitoba: Implications for Women/*, by Josephine Savarese and Bonnie 
Morton, provides a critical analysis of changes in income assistance 
policies in two prairie provinces. During the past decade, federal and

provincial governments have introduced significant changes in Canadian

social policy that have weakened social citizenship rights to income 
security. Despite a growing acknowledgement of the importance of income

and social policies as determinants of health, provincial income 
assistance programs have been designed to provide minimal benefits that

keep many individuals and families struggling to meet basic needs on 
incomes far below the poverty line.

/*Access to Justice: Social Assistance Advocacy in Saskatchewan and 
Manitoba*/, by Bonnie Morton and Josephine Savarese, provides a 
description of advocacy services which help people on social assistance

receive the benefits to which they are entitled. While some advocacy 
services are available in both provinces, access is limited and women
on 
income assistance face numerous obstacles when they wish to challenge 
decisions affecting their income and entitlements.

Together these two papers make an important contribution to our 
understanding of the links between public policy and women's poverty. 
They remind us that women are more likely to live in poverty, and more

likely to rely on income assistance for a variety of reasons. They 
demonstrate ways in which some policies may put women at a particular 
disadvantage. They call for policies that will lead to equitable 
outcomes for women and men by taking gender differences into account. 
They challenge us to go beyond a critique of current policies and look

for policy alternatives that will provide income security as a basic 
human right.

____________________________________
Rachel Rapaport Beck
Research and Policy Associate
Prairie Women's Health Centre of Excellence
56 The Promenade, Winnipeg MB R3B 3H9
(t) 204-982-6632
(f) 204-982-6637

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