Overcoming Barriers Through Leadership | Karen Lior | March 8, 2013 SfCarchive
Channel: SkillsforchangeArchive SfC
Date: 2013-03-16

Karen Lior, Executive Director at Toronto Workforce Innovation Group, was this evenings' keynote speaker.

Karen writes:
"
I have worked in the field of workforce development policy and programs for many years. I like the way someone once described me as a "competent visionary", someone who is able to work effectively with scarce resources to achieve significant results. I am able to bring together stakeholders from many sectors to develop innovative solutions to complex issues facing Toronto's labour market. I believe in working on small pieces of a problem at a time, gradually enlarging those pieces to create meaningful social change."

Friday, March 8th was International Women's Day, a day when Canadians join the world in a celebration of women, peace and human rights.

According to Status of Women Canada, Canada's theme for International Women's Day 2013 is Working Together: Engaging Men to End Violence against Women. This theme is designed to remind us that violence against women affects us all, and everyone must be part of the solution.

We believe that immigrant women are key to vibrant communities and a prosperous economy and that Skills for Change, and all service agencies, have a responsibility to ensure our programs are designed to support maximum engagement by female clients. We have spent the last year looking at our service provision through a gender lens to evaluate how we  support immigrant women in achieving their career goals, and gaining the confidence and economic independence crucial to allowing women to leave violent situations. 

Our 3-year gender-based analysis project, funded by Status of Women Canada, is a foundational stepping stone to understanding how settlement organizations like Skills for Change can unearth the systemic barriers facing immigrant women, how they can be overcome and how organizations can undergo transformational change to assist people of all genders in their entirety. 

On Friday, March 8, 2013 we shared our first white paper, born out of discussions with immigrant women and analysis of our services. The findings will inform how we  work to ensure better and more just service provision for women clients. Please join us. 

A sample of what our research uncovered: 

While women site freedom, safety and security, equal rights for women and better opportunities as the best parts of being an immigrant to Canada, language barriers and loneliness (including lack of family support and not fitting in) were noted as the worst barriers to full engagement. 

Single mothers interviewed as part of our focus groups particularly valued Canada's safety and freedom indicating they felt "respected" here and citing a very different treatment of single mothers in their home countries with many stating no government support and cultural shunning.