Women’s March Canada and Equal Voice Nova Scotia have their sights set on the provincial legislature this year.
The groups have partnered up with eduators and parents for a demonstration to ask for a pause on Bill 72.
Pamela Lovelace, chair of Equal Voice Nova Scotia, says the Education Reform Act will eliminate women’s voices in government by removing elected school boards.
“This year in particular and at this time, to see this government remove these 57 women from elected office is just incredibly disappointing as a citizen of Nova Scotia.”
Lovelace says it’s difficult to get women to run for office, especially in party politics, which makes it crucial to have women involved in school board and municipal elections.
She says around 55 per cent of school board members are women, which Lovelace calls ‘significant.’
“That’s significant because there’s no level of government where women have above parity and that’s because women are involved in local government and it’s a non-partisan position.”
Lovelace says women, from teachers to mothers to board members are being impacted negatively and many don’t feel heard by government as the issue has not been addressed by the premier.
“It says to me the voices of women are not being addressed and the needs of women to be at the decision-making table are not being addressed.”
Besides board members, the majority of educators and support staff are also women.
The groups are also concerned for rural, indigenous, and African Nova Scotian representation in the new education system.
The province has stated indigenous and African Nova Scotians will still have representation in the upcoming reforms.
Lovelace feels the government has not done proper consultation in implementing recommendations from an independent review on education.
No one from their organization is able to speak at the ongoing law amendments meeting as there was not enough space.
However, they will have speakers outside of Province House during their demonstration.
According to a press release from the organizations, Women’s March Canada aims to increase public awareness and provide ways to act around issues surrounding women’s health, economic security, representation, and safety.
Equal Voice is a multipartisan member organization dedicated to electing more women to public office at all levels of government.
Their demonstration will take place from 2 – 6 p.m. March 5 outside Province House.
International Women’s Day is March 8. Women’s March Canada has confirmed they’ll still be holding events that day.
