We increased child care funding 42 per cent to $300 million this year, up from $212 million in 2000/01, to help more women to participate in the workforce.
The unemployment rate for women in 2008 is 4.6 per cent, down from 7.7 per cent in 1998. Today over one million women are working in B.C.
The average weekly wage for women has grown 21 per cent since 2001, and is the third-highest in Canada.
We’ve increased our support for direct essential services for women’s safety by more than 40 per cent since 2005, the largest increase in a decade.
We now provide $50 million a year towards supporting prevention and intervention initiatives including 24/7 transition house services, counselling and outreach to connect women to services.
Women leaving abusive situations who are eligible for income assistance receive support immediately, and are exempt from the 3-week work search, two-year independence test and time limits.
We provide nearly $1 million a year for multicultural outreach services to abused women for whom English is not their first language.
We have three mobile mammography vans visiting over 100 communities to better provide service outside the Lower Mainland.
Women hold key positions in our government including Deputy Premier and Deputy Minister to the Premier.
Women & The Economy
We’ve invested in programs that support women and their families because women are playing a vital role in building a highly skilled workforce and building a strong B.C. economy.
We’ve increased child care funding 42 per cent to over $300 million this year, up from $212 million in 2000/01 to create more opportunities for women to participate in the workforce.
That funding supports nearly 90,000 licensed spaces throughout the province, nearly double the number eligible for funding in 2001.
We are examining the feasibility of providing parents with the choice of day-long kindergarten for four-year-olds by 2010, and for three-year-olds by 2012, to help ensure early learners get the best start possible and give more women another option if they want to return to the workforce earlier.
The 2008 unemployment rate for women was 4.6 per cent, down from 7.7 per cent in 1998. Today over one million women are working in B.C.
The average weekly wage for women has grown 21 per cent since 2001, and is the third-highest in Canada.
The 2008 average hourly wage for women was $19.50, almost 20 per cent more than 2001, and third highest in Canada.
49 per cent of the 370,000 jobs created since December, 2001 are filled by women.
36 per cent of BC’s small businesses are owned and operated by women – the second highest proportion in Canada, only slightly behind New Brunswick (37 per cent).
Women’s Health
We’ve invested in new, globally-leading innovations and treatments that are improving health and health care for girls and women in B.C., and provided appropriate, gender-sensitive care.
We began providing the HPV vaccine (in 2008) to girls in grades 6 & 9 to prevent 70 per cent of cervical cancers.
In 2007, we began funding for Caelyx, a chemotherapy drug for the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer in women where standard therapy has failed – it’s estimated up to 150 women in B.C. will benefit from this drug each year.
To better meet the needs of women living outside the Lower Mainland, we have three mobile mammography vans travelling to over 100 communities.
We opened new fixed mammography centres in Smithers and Sechelt in 2007, and Cranbrook in 2008.
We’ve contributed over $4 million in the last two years to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation’s GOHAVE1 campaign to increase participation in mammography screening (1-888-GOHAVE1).
We’ve invested $17 million since 2001 to an incentive program in partnership with the BC Medical Association, to increase the number of physicians providing maternity care services.
BC Women’s Hospital is home to Canada’s first human milk bank, providing pasteurized milk to infants when formula isn’t appropriate or mother’s milk isn’t sufficient or available.
We provided $2.1 million in 2007/08 to the Healthy Choices in Pregnancy program to improve maternal and infant health, and decrease incidence of infants born with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.
We spent $16.5 million at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital for a new maternity care unit that allows expectant mothers to benefit from single-room maternity care and additional newborn intensive care beds.
Women’s Safety We believe in making record investment in programs that help women escape abusive situations because everyone has the right to feel safe in their homes and communities.
We’ve increased our support for direct essential services for women by more than 40 per cent since 2005, the largest increase in a decade.
$50 million a year goes to supporting prevention and intervention initiatives, including 24/7 transition house services, counselling and outreach to connect women with the services they may need. Women in over 100 communities throughout B.C. are able to benefit from the services available and 95 per cent of women in B.C. now have access to services within an hour of their home. Click here for more information on some of the services available.
We continue to fund Domestic Violence Units (DVUs) which involve the partnering of a dedicated police officer and a victim service worker in responding to domestic violence calls.
Recognizing that some women in crisis may not know how to access transition houses or counselling supports, we’ve invested almost $3.6 million in outreach services, including multicultural outreach services, to help connect them with supports that can make real differences in their lives.
Women leaving abusive homes who are eligible for income assistance receive support immediately, and are exempt from the three-week work search, two-year independence test and time limits.
We’re providing nearly $1 million a year for multicultural outreach services to women who have experienced abuse and for whom English is not their first language. These services are provided in ten communities and in 24 different languages.
Our $1.2-million Partners in Prevention grants support projects focused on changing the attitudes and behaviours of men and boys that lead to violence.
