Violence against Working Women in Canada: Evaluating Strategies of Change - Essay Example

Research Paper: Evaluating Strategies of Change Violence against Working Women in Canada: Evaluating Strategies of Change Introduction Violence against working women is a problem faced by almost all organizations across the globe. It is a critical problem for the victimized women as well as for their organizations. This is due to the fact that it not only affects the quality of working lives of employees but also the performance of the firms. Like all parts of the world, violence against working women has always been an important issue in Canada. The social norms in Canada have changed with the passage of time but unfortunately even today women are suffering from violence at work place. However due to the efforts of government and private organizations, some change has been observed in Canadian society during the last few last decades. This dreadful problem which was earlier assumed as part of women’s job in Canadian society is at least now considered as an unethical and unacceptable behavior. The purpose of writing this research paper is to discuss the violence of women at work place and evaluate the strategies used in Canada to prevent this violence. These strategies include the steps taken by Canadian governments as well as by the private and public organizations. In addition, this paper will also suggest what other possible options can be pursued in order to further resolve this issue. Violence against Working Women in Canada According to the definition of violence provided by Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women; violence can be physical, sexual, psychological/verbal, financial, stalking and other ways of controlling and abusing power (Morris, 2002). Considering the case of working women, physical violence includes: punching, kicking, choking, stabbing or mutilation; sexual violence includes: rape, any unwanted touching or act of a sexual nature and forced prostitution at work place; verbal/psychological violence includes: threats to be fired, repeated insults, demeaning self-esteem, forced isolation from co-workers, threats of further violence or deportation if employee attempts to leave; stalking includes unwanted attention, spying, monitoring of mail or conversations; and financial violence includes taking away a woman’s wages or other income, making false deductions in wages etc (Morris, 2002). National statistics show that around half of Canadian women (51%) have experienced at least one physical or sexual voice after the age of 16 years (Statistics Canada, 1993). According to the recent survey report of Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (McInturff , 2013) around 677000 adults reported violence in the past five years. Majority from these were women from which around 57% suffered violence at the work place. The report also states that the lack of data and the national strategy prevents the progress to end violence against women in Canada. The report further point out that solving violence problem is considered costly. The cost of resolving violence is around $9 billion per year or $334 per person annually. This is not very high compared with the illegal drugs or smoking costs but unfortunately the federal budget spending has failed to handle it. The amount spent on violence against women was less than $3 per person in year 2011-12 which obviously was not enough for tackling this problem (Monsebraaten, 2013). Women in certain occupations suffer more violence compare to others. For instance, the foreign domestic workers who work at low wages in private homes usually suffer from sexual abuse. Most of them even not report violence as they are not aware with their legal rights of the services. Similarly women working in health care units and military are very vulnerable to workplace violence. Majority of these include those who are at subordinate positions and cannot raise voice against senior staff (Johnson, 1996). The awareness among men regarding the violence of women has increased but it has not brought any significant changes in Canadian society. There are several organizations that are working hard to increase this awareness. According to White Ribbon Campaign, which is a registered nonprofit organization with 20 years of experience, 97 percent of men in Ontario think that violence against women is an important issue. They also believe that 87 percent of women are affected by violence from men (Eichler, 2013). Change Strategies There was a time when women violence was not considered important but due to increasing awareness today it means violating the human rights legislation of Canada. However, this change did not take place all of sudden; it happened after struggling of women for several years and fighting for their rights. Canadian government has taken several steps to minimize this severe problem of women violence. Different policies have been made on national and provincial level to prevent this serious problem and support the survivors. The government officials are trying to join Canadians from coast to coast and different parts of the world to stand together and resolve the global problem of violence against women. They condemn all forms of violence against women in Canada and abroad (Johnson, 1996).  In the last two decades, governments of Canada have known well about the figures and numbers of women violence. They have also made commissions and supported institutions that report them. Unfortunately in spite of having statistics and reports, Canadian governments have failed to take right action on the recommendations. As a consequence, the problem remains there and number of victims does not decrease (Canadian Women’s Work Health, 2010). Looking at the failure of government, several private, public and non-profit organizations have started playing their role in resolving this serious ethical issue. For instance, Ontario Power Generation is aggressively working to end the violence against women in the society, focusing mainly on the working women. Similarly several other companies have designed their own programs to handle women violence problem at workplaces and in community (Statistics Canada, 1993). Most of Canadian organizations dealing with violence against women consider it as unacceptable and unjustified due to its severe negative impact on the society. It gives shape to such structure of power that reproduces the inequality of women in the society. Therefore, making efforts for ending the violence against working women is the responsibility of everyone. This behavior of people can be changed as it is a learned behavior and therefore can be altered with the help of different strategies (Brodie, 2008). Several events are also held in Canada to highlight the issue of violence against working women in Canada. The theme of International Women’s Week 2013 was also to work together and engaging men to end the violence against women. The government official Minister for Status of Women at the women’s week event stated “We challenge men and boys around the world to work to end violence against women and girls. Together, today, we pay tribute to all fighting to uphold the rights of women and girls and to those committing to end violence against them (News Release, 2013).” Unions in Canada have also shown their contribution in highlighting the issue of violence against women at work place. The Union for Canadian Autoworkers and the Union of Public Employees have developed anti-violence programs. These include handbooks on building safe working environments, training workshops for leaders of unions and staff regarding the complications of violence against women. In addition, these unions also run Women’s Advocate Program to support the female employees suffering from violence at work place (Chung et al, 2012). Evaluation of Change Strategies and Suggestions Despite of all these efforts, it is sad to know that women violence will still be faced by Canadian women in the coming years. According to the Statistics provided by Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives report, it is estimated that 50 per cent of Canadian women will experience any act of physical or sexual violence. From these a large number of women will be the women working in offices and factories as employees and labors (Eichler, 2013). Canadian government need to realize that there are several costs Canadian society bears due to violence against women. These include: emotional costs, health costs, economic costs and of course the societal costs. Therefore, it is extremely important to give priority to this problem that is exploiting our society. The starting point of fighting for violence against women is to create the awareness that violence against women is not acceptable. As stated above, this awareness has already been created in the Canadian society but probably it is not enough and therefore further efforts are needed to increase this awareness among men. It would have been great if women violence problem could be resolved with a single magic strategy but unfortunately it is a very complex problem. Moreover, the population of Canada is very diverse by all aspects; there are racial, ethical, socio-economical, historical and geographical differences. Therefore one strategy can only be used to treat certain populations and cannot be used to bring change and transform whole country. The federal spending for tackling the violence against women, especially the working women should be increased. This spending will result in saving a lot as not only the working conditions but the lives of the working women will also improve. It is not only an ethical and legal issue but also a financial issue. It will bring a huge public and personal cost for Canada if it continues on the same path and with same speed for solving this problem. However, the lack of authentic information about the scope and level of violence is a big barrier towards the progress. Therefore, violence at work place detailed surveys should be conducted on regular basis at national as well as provincial level. This will bring a significant difference in knowing the exact data and sensitivity of the problem. This will also measure when the levels of violence go up and down otherwise it will be difficult to know if the planned interventions are working appropriately. The last national level survey conducted on the violence of Canadian women was in 1993. It was a well designed survey but unfortunately has not been repeated again in last 20 years. The government should understand that it is a nationwide problem. Many companies do surveys but on small level, which are not enough to measure the progress. A national level leadership is required to solve this problem and measure the progress. The business world also needs to realize that the issue of violence against working women is more important than any other corporate social responsibility. They need to understand that this issue has direct impact on the performance of the employees and productivity of the workers. As mentioned above, a nonprofit organization, White Ribbon Campaign in Toronto is a global movement of men with a mission to end violence against women. The executive director of this White Ribbon’s Campaign Todd Minerson stated that “We need to make the case that preventing violence against women is not only the right thing to do, it is good for business as well” (Eichler, 2013). Conclusion Violence against women at work place is very common in Canada. Governments of Canada are well aware of the number of women suffering from violence and they take interest to further explore the issue. However, to great extent they have failed to in addressing this issue properly and performing on the suggestions needed to resolve the issue. Violence at work place affects the lives of women and performance of companies. Therefore, looking at the failure of government, several profit and non-profit organizations have started playing their role. They consider it a corporate social responsibility to tackle this critical issue. Similarly, several groups and communities work voluntarily to highlight the problem of violence faced by working women at both work and home. Canadian government and organizations need to understand that women violence at work place can decreased by creating more awareness and action against the culprit. Government should seriously follow the recommendations provided by the analysts in the reports. The companies can also enhance their role by giving online training, conducting sessions and making strict rules for the violators. References Brodie, J. (2008). “We are all equal now: Contemporary gender politics in Canada”. Feminist Theory, 9(2), 145-164. Canadian Women’s Work Health. (2000). “Violence against Women”. Fall 2000 Volume 3, Number 4 . Chung et al. 2012. “Preventing violence against women in the workplace”. Victorian Health Promotion Foundation, Melbourne, Australia. Eichler, L. (2013). The business case for ending violence against women. The Globe and Mail. Published July 19, 2013. Johnson, H. (1996). Dangerous Domains: Violence against Women in Canada. Toronto: Nelson McInturff , K. (2013). The Gap in the Gender Gap: Violence against Women in Canada. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Canada Monsebraaten. L. (2013). Violence against women. Social Justice Department. Canada. Morris, M. (2002). CRIAW Factsheet/Violence against Women and Girls. Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women Canada. News Release. (2013). Canada Working to End Violence Against Women. Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada. Published March 8. 2013. Statistics Canada. (1993). “The Violence against Women Survey,” The Daily, November 18, 1993. Read More