Jarrah Hodge
Oct 1st, 2009
Is the recession hurting women more than men?
Over the past nine months watching mainstream media coverage of the global economic downturn, I’ve noticed men coming across as the main economic actors. The bankers and auto execs coming to government with their hands out are mostly men. The politicians brokering these bailouts are mostly men. And perhaps most importantly, the vast majority of people losing their jobs are men, making up 82% of recessionary layoffs in the United States, and 71% in Canada.
The fact that men are losing their jobs at such high numbers has spurred the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives to adopt the term “he-cession," coined recently to describe the way men are being laid off en masse. Last week Statistics Canada reported a 161.6% increase in people applying for EI benefits in Vancouver since July 2008. With job losses here particularly in the male-dominated realms of finance, manufacturing, and construction, the recession in Vancouver seems to be reflecting the North American trends.
I wondered what this “he-cession” means for women, so I did some research of my own.
Jarrah Hodge
Sep 5th, 2009
In good economic times or bad, basically at any time other than election time, child care seems not to be a government priority. And true to form last week we saw the BC Liberal government again knocked child care to the bottom of the list with their withdrawal of Minor Capital Grants to child care centres.
These small grants are used by centres for basic safety and quality repairs and without them, the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC warns, centres will be forced to raise parents’ fees – again – just to meet provincial licensing standards.
Despite the government’s using the spectre of recession to scare British Columbians into spending cuts, CCCABC spokesperson Crystal Janes warns that continued government neglect of the child care system will actually be detrimental to the economy and children’s well-being.
Jarrah Hodge
Aug 18th, 2009
And, guess what? It'll exacerbate class inequality, too.
Some governments think that the summer is a great time to introduce unpopular policies, that the nice weather and the legislative recess will stop people from getting too angry. It may have worked in the past, but I’m certainly seeing a lot of people angry about BC’s new Harmonized Sales Tax.
Jarrah Hodge
Aug 13th, 2009
In BC there was a Liberal government who ran for election on the promise of fixing our economic problems. They got in and quickly instituted regressive tax reforms, made post-secondary education less affordable, cut programs for mental health and addictions, and gutted services for women fleeing intimate partner violence.
Yes, I definitely feel like I woke up and found myself in 2001 all over again.
Jarrah Hodge
Aug 4th, 2009
Over the past nine months watching mainstream media coverage of the global economic downturn, I’ve noticed men coming across as the main economic actors. The bankers and auto execs coming to government with their hands out are mostly men. The politicians brokering these bailouts are mostly men. And perhaps most importantly, the vast majority of people losing their jobs are men, making up 82% of recessionary layoffs in the United States, and 71% in Canada.
The fact that men are losing their jobs at such high numbers has spurred the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives to adopt the term “he-cession," coined recently to describe the way men are being laid off en masse. Last week Statistics Canada reported a 161.6% increase in people applying for EI benefits in Vancouver since July 2008. With job losses here particularly in the male-dominated realms of finance, manufacturing, and construction, the recession in Vancouver seems to be reflecting the North American trends.
I wondered what this “he-cession” means for women, so I took on some research of my own.
