Both the Platform for Action adopted by the United Nations at Beijing in 1995 (to which the Canadian Government was a signatory) and the Federal Plan for Gender Equality (1995) recognize the disadvantaged financial position in which older women find themselves. The U.N. declaration makes commitments to promote opportunities for older women in the workforce.The Federal Plan commits itself to the provision of education, training, and retraining programs and employment services targeted at women re-entrants to the work force, although it does not identify older women specifically in that category.

The U.N. Platform for Action affirms that governments will take measures to ensure equal access of women to ongoing training, including women re-entering the labour market after an extended exit from employment owing to family responsibilities and other causes, and women displaced by new forms of production or by retrenchment.

We request the federal government take action on these commitments in order to promote opportunities for all women, including older women, to have equal access to employment.

With specific regard to poverty, Canada agreed to "review, adopt, and maintain macro-economic policies and develop strategies that address the needs and efforts of women in poverty." Instead, Canada has chosen to cut back social programs, This has resulted in an increase in the number of women and children existing in poverty. This situation will result in these and many other women and their daughters facing the same fate as approximately 2/3 of older women face today: a life with an income below the poverty line.

• i. We request the federal government to put child-care funding and job creation back on the agenda.
• ii. We request the federal government restore the Canada Assistance Plan (CAP) which has now been replaced by the Canada Health and Social Transfer (CHST); and to restore Unemployment Insurance (UI) which has now been replaced by Employment Insurance (EI).
• iii. We request the federal government to retain Old Age Security (OAS), the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) and the Canada Pension Plan (CPP).
• iv. Canada’s present and proposed policies in each of the seven areas has markedly negative effects upon women.

Post Beijing Working Group, April 30, 1998
Revised March 1999

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