Dear All:

The following is from a feminist listserv in Canada. I am sending it on
because it seems to me to be a creative way to speak about public policy
issues and to use the internet for health.

The Premier of Alberta, Ralph Klein, is noted for cutbacks to social and
health services. He refers to "average" Albertans as Henry and Martha (note
the Anglicized names in a multi-cultural context) and a group of feminists
have used this in a humorous and seemingly effective way to make a few
points about the changing discourse about women and children as victims of
violence.

Rhonda Love

_________________________



> In June of last year a small group of activists from a feminist advocacy
> organization in Lethbridge, Alberta started an email protest group that
> provides a feminist analysis to public policy decisions in Alberta.  Based
> on the model of Feminism Fits from St. John's Status of Women Council, the
> group picks a policy each month, produces a well-researched backgrounder,
> and include a sample letter to forward to Mr. Klein.  More than 200 women
> have joined the list and the March 2005 version of Martha's Monthly (so
> named as Premier Klein refers to the "ordinary" Albertans as "the Marthas
> and the Henrys") has created quite a stir. Opposition parties read the
> Martha letters into the House and more than a few female MLAs are proud
> members of Martha's Monthly!   Below  are some highlights of that March
> Martha's Monthly that made it to www.rabble.ca  on March 15. YOU
> are most welcome to join and become a Martha by emailing
> [log in to unmask]  A Webpage is under construction ...
> And a final note: So far we have
> operated Martha's Monthly with no funding and no paid staff time.
>
>
>   Martha's Monthly for March, 2005
>
>   Where is the word "Women" in Alberta's Policies??
>
>   Martha has been following the UN conference on the Advancement of Women
> called Beijing +10 that started Feb 28 and continues until March 11.  This
> UN conference is reviewing the progress of the Beijing conference of 1995
> and the promises made for women's equality.  It got Martha thinking about
> how her own province has been doing on equality for women and particularly
> on the issue of violence against women.  Well, Martha found out more than
> she bargained for when she went looking for some simple answers to how
much
> her government spends on women's shelters.  The Auditor General noted that
> in 2003-2004 the Ministry of Children's Services spent $17 Million on
> "Prevention of Family Violence."  Martha assumed that this is where
funding
> for shelters falls, but this was not made clear. (Auditor General report
> (see page 88)) Interestingly, that amount of money is quite similar to the
> amount pledged by Alberta Lottery fund for "Racing Industry Renewal
> Initiative."  This effort to "re-brand" horse racing got $17,900,000 in
the
> 2001-2002 fiscal year. (see page 91 of the Gaming Annual Report)
>
>
>   There seems to be a little "re-branding" going on in the Government of
> Alberta as well.  Our government has re-branded women's issues and
violence
> against women into concern for children.  We have no Ministry for the
Status
> of Women, as there is in most provinces.  If you dig, you can find
"women's
> issues" under Alberta Community Development but don't get too excited,
> "women's issues" stop at the Person's Day Scholarships.  Martha went
digging
> deeper and found the Finding Solutions Together report from the Alberta
> Roundtable on Family Violence and Bullying (held in May 2004). The word
> "Women" is all but eradicated from the entire Family Violence report.  In
> fact, the word "women" appears only four times in that 28-page report.
>
>    Why is gender obscured as a basis for analysis in the Government of
> Alberta document ?  What happens when a government stops recognizing women
> as victims of domestic assault and just sees "Children and Families" as
the
> victims?  When we overlook the gender of more than 85% of the victims of
> assault then we overlook many important needs.  In Alberta it has meant
that
> our government has offered woefully poor resources to women's shelters,
> transition homes for women, and financial resources available to women
> leaving abusive relationships.

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