Advancing Women's Economic Empowerment (CSW70 Side Event)

Welcome, everyone. Very happy to see you this afternoon. Hello. My name is Amanda Dale. I'm Canada's candidate to CEDAW the UN Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination against women for 2027-2030.

As we gather here to exchange knowledge, strategies and hope, we acknowledge that we are meeting where indigenous people have lived the home and land of the people of Lenape, what is now New York for at least 13,000 years. Today there are eight federal and state recognized sovereign nations in what is now New York. New York City has the largest and most diverse population of indigenous peoples in in the United States.

Today's conversation on removing structural barriers to women's economic empowerment has been convened by Canada and the Republic of the Philippines and the Government of Sweden to provide insight on how partnership and collective action can foster sustainable livelihoods for all women, especially women most impacted by economic inequality and and insecurity.

This critical topic will be discussed by the following distinguished international group of experts. I will introduce them in the order in which they will speak. But first, I have the great honor to introduce the Honorable Isabel Maria Zamora, Member House of Representatives of the Philippines. The Honorable Isabella Maria Zamora is the Representative for San Jose, San Juan City, Lone District, first elected in 2022 as its inaugural female member of Congress and a lawyer by profession. The Minister will be making our concluding remarks for today.

I also have the great honor to introduce the Honourable Richie Valdez, Head of Mission for Canada to csw. I've had the great honour of spending a few days with the Minister in between multiple multilateral, bilateral and every kind of lateral relationship you could imagine. And I have found her to be a most approachable, warm, humble, skilled and appealing person to have in her role as Minister of Women and Gender Equality and Secretary of State for Small Business and Tourism. Minister Valdez brings an extensive background in business, community leadership and public service to her role, which you will no doubt regard in her remarks today. She was elected to the House of Commons in 2021 and she made history as the first Filipina Canadian woman elected to Parliament.

Congratulations, Minister.

Minister Valdez will provide the opening remarks for us today and set the scene for the conversation we're about to have.

Good afternoon, everyone. Bonjour. Tout le mondang HAPON thank you Dr. Dale for that wonderful introduction. And I just want to say let's all support her as the candidate for cedaw. Yes.

I'd also like to thank the partners who have helped make today possible, Dawn Canada, the Canadian Women's foundation, the National Aboriginal Capital Corporations association, the Women's Academy for Leadership and Political Excellence, and the Government of the Philippines. I also want to give a big shout out to our incredible panelists, Laurie Shataye, Evelyn Minou, Magnolia Sita Bile, and the Honorable Isabel Zamora from the Philippine House of Representatives. We do look forward to your insight and I also want to thank the government of Sweden for co sponsoring this event. Let's all give them a round of applause.

Welcome and thank you for joining Team Canada's signature side event at the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. This is giving me like lecture vibes all the way. As I know for so many of you this conversation is very personal to me. So I just want to share a few stories of mine from the past. Inequality, for those of you that don't know, started from a very early age.

My parents immigrated from the Philippines to Kitwi, Zambia, Africa, where I was born, and then immigrated to Canada. What was interesting is that being the oldest child of two in my family, inequality began from the time that my brother was born because even though he was four years younger than me, he seemed to have more rights, more voice and more say than I did.

Fast forward into university. I studied in computer science for those of you that are also in stem. I graduated in a handful of, maybe there was less than a handful of us in a full classroom of men. Then I proceeded into corporate banking and moved my way up the corporate ladder. And the more and more I moved up in the corporate ladder, there was less people that looked like me and often I was mistaken for the person that was delivering the coffee into the room as opposed to the person that was going to be leading the conversation.

And then finally as a small business entrepreneur. When I started my small business, it was really challenging. It was tough for me to start off. It was hard to get access to capital. It was hard for me to get access to mentorship opportunities.

So a lot of these life experiences have really shaped my role now as Minister of Women and Gender Equality and Secretary of State and Small Business. I recognize that when women face structural barriers, economies leave talent and productivity on the table. When women can access capital markets and leadership opportunities, businesses grow and communities benefit. In Canada, we are looking for ways to address those practical barriers. And one of the most important policies that I'm so proud of is our first ever women's entrepreneurship strategy, which we launched in 2018.

I wish this existed when I was an entrepreneur. To date, we've invested $7 billion and have supported well over 500,000 women entrepreneurs across our country from coast to coast to coast in terms of starting and scaling and growing their business. This has been amazing. Whether that's the entrepreneurship loan fund that provides $50,000 in microloans to businesses, this is helping women launch their businesses for the first time. Women in rural and remote communities and women from diverse backgrounds, we know that access to capital is only part of the equation.

Entrepreneurs also need networks to advisory, support, procurement pathways and opportunities to scale. And we take a whole of government approach doing this. And this is what ultimately I believe has been the most successful of the program. We are helping women access procurement opportunities and like host women, led trade missions as well. We are also taking targeted action to address various systemic barriers through our Black entrepreneurship program.

And for those who are Young, from age 18 to 39, we invest in young entrepreneurs as well through FuturePreneur Canada. And what we've done as a government through this investment is we've helped young entrepreneurs get access to two years of mentorship and being an entrepreneur myself, without that support, that network, it helps entrepreneurs get out of their comfort zone and working on an island. And it helps entrepreneurs reach out and get access to people, community and opportunities. It's that level of collaboration that's needed and it's how we've really shaped our policies to ensure that we're able to help support entrepreneurs. For indigenous entrepreneurs, we work in partnership with the National Aboriginal Capital Corporations association, and you'll hear about it today from Magnolia.

We're going to continue to support entrepreneurs through their, you know, adventures is what I call them. And we also recognize that these efforts recognize the economic barriers that are again experienced by inequality. Canada also understands that early learning and childcare play a critical role in labor force participation. When I was raising my kids, it felt like a whole extra mortgage trying to put my, you know, work full time and put my kids into daycare. Now, through Canada's early learning and childcare system, this is providing economic infrastructure.

It reduces costs for families and expands access to childcare. In some parts of Canada, childcare is as low as $10 a day, which is incredible when families can rely on affordable childcare or women can pursue employment, expand their businesses, and advance in their careers with greater stability. In Canada, we've seen upwards of 87% of women participation in our economy. And I believe that is a direct result of these very important policies. We have also legislated pay equity in federally regulated places, ensuring equal pay for equal value of work.

That strengthens economic security and reinforces what we've talked about here at the United nations and which is fairness in the labor market. And because participation depends on safety, our efforts to prevent and respond to gender based violence are directly connected to economic outcomes. No one can build a business, seek a promotion or invest in their future if they are navigating fear, coercion or instability. We are all doing this because a strong, confident country cannot afford to leave half a billion, half of its population behind. It's kind of like building a sports team and benching half the players.

And we cannot do that. Today's discussion gives us the opportunity to share practical solutions, whether that's access to capital, trade, care policy and inclusive investment models. We know that sustained progress requires that collaboration across governments, civil society and the private sector. And I look forward to hearing from our panelists and from all of you. So as this is my last day at my first uncsw, I want to thank you all for taking the time and your busy schedules to be here.

I thank you for your energy, for your advocacy, and for standing together to ensure that women's rights and gender equality strengthens for today and for future generations going forward. So on behalf of my daughter Cassidy, thank you so much.

Thank you so much. Minister Valdez, we know that women around the world continue to face systemic barriers to full economic participation, including discriminatory laws, restrictive policies, unequal access to financial services, and underrepresentation in economic decision making. For many women, notably indigenous women and women with disabilities, such barriers are compounded by intersecting forms of inequality that contribute to higher levels of poverty, violence, unemployment and economic insecurity. While these barriers are global in nature, contexts and intersectional forms of discrimination require tailored responses. This year's CSW's priority theme is access to justice.

Today's panelists bring their wide range of experience to the practical question of how to remove barriers that inhibit just access to economic autonomy, a cornerstone of a just economy that supports women's substantive equality. I would now like to turn to our first speaker, Laurie Stratnicki, Pay Equity Commissioner, Human Rights Commission of Canada. Laurie, I would love to hear from you. We all had this broad question that we came into the room with of how can legal and policy reforms dismantle structural barriers to women's economic empowerment? So I want to ask you to Situate your work and focus on concrete solutions that you see working and what you think is left to be done.

Laurie, you work in pay equity, and it's really at the intersection of access to justice and economic empowerment. Can you tell us a little bit about what pay equity is? It can be very complicated for people. Often it feels quite technical. And I know you have a way of explaining it that we will understand.

What is it in Canada? How did it come about and how is it working?

Thank you, Dr. Dale. It will be my absolute pleasure. So when we talk about pay equity in Canada, we talk about it as a human right, though it is fundamentally a tool that advances women's economic empowerment as we see globally. In Canada, women still earn less than men by about 13%. And that wage gap widens sharply for indigenous, black and racialized women, newcomer women and women with disabilities.

Pay equity is one essential tool to close the portion of that gap caused by the historic undervaluation of women's work. We use it to mean equal pay for work of equal value, not equal pay for equal work. And that distinction matters. Equal pay for equal work doesn't capture the systemic undervaluation. Earlier models failed to expose the gendered assumptions about the value assigned to women's work.

After the Second World War, women entered the paid labor market in large numbers, but were steered into roles seen as extensions of domestic duties like caregiving, clerical work, cleaning. And these were treated as their natural skills, not economic skills skills, and therefore they were paid less. So why the system had to change? For decades, Canada relied on a complaints based model. Under human rights legislation, women couldn't know they were underpaid without access to information.

And litigation often dragged on for years with limited public outcomes. So a federal task force concluded this approach would never close systemic gaps, and parliamentary committees reached the same conclusion. Canada needed a proactive model because the wage gap wasn't closing even as women's education and labor force participation rose. This political will led to the Pay Equity act, which I'm responsible for and which came into force in 2021. So what does proactive mean?

It means that employers, and not employees, not women, must examine their own compensation systems, must identify gaps, correct them, and then maintain that equity over time. So women don't have to complain, they don't have to request data or take risks that might affect their jobs. Their employers must find and fix inequities. So how are things going so far? We're early in the implementation of this new act and compliance certainly varies.

But employers who have submitted results show real wage adjustments. Early examples include sectors like banking, telecommunications, transportation and pipeline operators, which have all reported adjustments averaging $3.25 per hour. The next crucial phase is compliance monitoring, audits, investigations, administrative penalties for non compliance to ensure employers are doing the work, including working jointly with unions in their workplaces. So the real takeaway is that pay equity is now enforceable. So what still needs to be done?

Three things from me so number one, address uneven coverage across Canada. So Canada is a federation and only three jurisdictions. The provinces of Ontario, Quebec and the federal regime have proactive pay equity legislation that applies to both public and private sectors. About half of the 10 provinces and all three territories rely on equal pay for equal work. The second addressing intersectional wage disparity.

A few data points demonstrate this and I'm sure others are going to expand on this far more eloquently. On this panel, women with disabilities earn 20% less than men with disabilities and 14% less than women without disabilities. 32% of indigenous women and 26% of racialized women and women with disabilities earn below $50,000 a year. The third one tackle the rest of the wage gap. So beyond undervaluation, wage inequality is driven by things like gender discrimination, caregiving, responsiveness, barriers to hiring, promotion and advancement, and of course gender based violence.

Women spend significantly more time in unpaid care work which also limits their earnings and their lifetime economic security.

I'll stop there. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Lori.

Magnolia Perron, Director of Strategy Partnerships at the National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association I would really love to hear from you a little bit about the important work that you're doing at the National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association. What barriers does your work tackle to bring economic empowerment to Indigenous women and how is this in itself a form form of access to justice?

Thank you.

At the National Aboriginal Capital Corporation association, we represent a network of Indigenous financial institutions across Canada that provide capital, business advisory services and financial supports to Indigenous entrepreneurs. These institutions were created because many Indigenous entrepreneurs historically faced significant barriers accessing mainstream financial systems and they still do today. They play an important role in creating pathways to entrepreneurship and economic participation for individuals who may otherwise face systemic barriers to accessing capital. Why Indigenous Women's Economic Empowerment Matters Indigenous women continue to face significant economic and social impact qualities. They experience higher rates of gender based violence while also facing persistent economic disparities including lower incomes and barriers to financial services and business supports.

Economic security is deeply connected to safety, dignity and justice. Financial independence can determine whether women have the ability to leave unsafe situations, rebuild their lives and break cycles of poverty and abuse. Empowering women economically allows them to exercise their rights, build stable lives, and contribute to stronger and more resilient communities.

Entrepreneurship holds profound potential as a pathway to economic and community prosperity for Indigenous women in Canada. It offers a powerful means of self determination and empowerment, enabling women to create opportunities for themselves, their families, and their communities. Despite this potential, Indigenous women entrepreneurs continue to face several structural barriers. Number one Access to capital Many financial and business support systems were simply not designed with Indigenous women in mind, creating gaps in access to capital and services. Additional challenges can include limited collateral due to inability to leverage land or property within conventional lending system, high levels of perceived lending risk, existing debt burdens, or limited credit history.

Many Indigenous entrepreneurs also face broader socioeconomic barriers, including lower access to education and employment opportunities as well as limited generational wealth that could otherwise support business investment. Another important barrier relates to historic and ongoing gender based discrimination embedded within the framework of the Indian Act, a Canadian federal law passed in 1876 that still exists today, which regulates many parts of life for first nations people. For many years, discriminatory provisions affected Indigenous women's legal status and their relationship to land and property within their communities. While legal reforms have addressed some of these inequalities, the legacy of these policies continue to shape the economic realities today.

Some of the other barriers include geographic barriers. Many Indigenous communities are located in rural and remote regions where access to financial institutions, markets, and business networks can be limited. In Northern regions, these geographic barriers can be even more pronounced. Infrastructure and Connectivity Limited infrastructure and unreliable Internet connectivity can make it difficult to access online services, training programs, and digital markets. Family Responsibilities Many women entrepreneurs also face additional barriers to caregiving responsibilities, including caring for children and elders, and lastly, training and capacity.

Access to affordable and culturally relevant business training and mentorship opportunities can also be limited. Insufficient transportation can make it challenging for entrepreneurs to access business supports, training opportunities, and financial institutions. So how is NACA and Indigenous financial institutions addressing these barriers? Indigenous financial institutions play a critical role in addressing these challenges. They provide flexible lending models, smaller scale loans and startup capital, mentorship and business advisory services, and culturally grounded supports.

They're also developing community based relationships and trust with the entrepreneurs they serve. Because these institutions are embedded in Indigenous communities, they understand the unique realities entrepreneurs face and can tailor supports accordingly.

One example of how these barriers are being addressed is through NACA's Indigenous Women Entrepreneurship Initiative. This program was designed to expand access to capital, training and mentorship for Indigenous women entrepreneurs across Canada. Since 2022, the program has delivered over 700 microloans valued at over $11 million to Indigenous women entrepreneurs. They've also provided over 6,000 participants with training in business, advisory support on financial literacy, and to help build their business acumen. These supports help Indigenous women start and grow businesses while building financial confidence, leadership and long term economic independence.

Why this Matters Economic participation is also an essential component of justice. This connection is also increasingly recognized in international human rights frameworks. A major turning point was the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous people in 2007, opening the door for more specific work on Indigenous women's rights. In 2022, the CDOC committee adopted General Recommendation 39, emphasizing the rights of Indigenous women and girls, economic empowerment and access to justice. To conclude, when Indigenous women face systemic barriers to capital markets and economic opportunities, their ability to participate fully in society is limited.

By addressing these structural barriers and investing in inclusive financial systems, women we strengthen both economic participation and access to justice. Thank you.

Thank you so much Magnolia. That was really inspiring. I want to turn now to you. Mina and I would like Minou is the Chair of the Board of the Canadian Women's foundation and the founder and CEO of Accessibility for All. And Minou, I have a question for you.

In terms of what your experience has been removing barriers for women with disabilities. In your view, what are the missing laws, policies and procedures that we can focus on? And I know you're also in government and you're a deputy minister, so we have you in many places working hard for us.

So whichever hat you want to wear, please address the question if you will.

Thank you Minou thank you Dr. Dale for the opportunity to speak. And it's really a privilege to speak and address the UN today. So I'm going to speak without any titles today.

Thank you for the titles that you mentioned. That is my identity. But today I like to speak as a 22 year old ambitious young woman, a STEM graduate who arrived in Canada many years ago under the Family sponsorship program. Within three months of coming to Canada, I acquired a spinal corporation injury and along with my mobility I lost my identity. I was no longer a bright, ambitious woman with a huge prospect.

Suddenly I was a disabled woman where society has no expectations, family has no expectations. Systems were not designed to give me any hopes to live my life as I was living when I was standing and system designed to assist others with disabilities had access to laws, policies and programs which due to my status, I had no access. And I was not at that moment I didn't know I was not unique in my experience. There were many immigrant, racialized Women with disabilities, Indigenous women were also facing those barriers. As we lived in multi generational household as our preference, we were very quickly denied any access to grants that were available in the household because system was designed by western definition of, you know, western definition of families and adults.

So when you live in a multi generational household, the caps really spoke to you. Have no access to find accessibility grants to live in a house that gives you independence and dignity. We could not access those grants. We could not go to the employment support programs. And if you know, as an immigrant, first thing you want is economic empowerment because you're not bringing any assets other than your knowledge.

You're not bringing any properties. You have to build those through your hard work. However, the system was designed for those who were living here before with the privilege. And I'm glad it existed. However, I felt that I was falling through the cracks.

If I wanted to access any programs, I must leave my family, must leave the support network, the only support network I had at that time. Time. And then I come across that disability was becoming synonymous with poverty. Disabled women especially could not access family support. And especially if you choose to live in an interdependent family model, you were not considered as part of independent living, which I'm a big supporter of.

However, you could not access any of the income support or employment support programs that are available. So having said that, my experience over the years is I fought against those systems because I had no choice. I had to live my life and I had to get employment in order to pay for my existence in Canada, which I love. It is my adopted country, it is my adopted homeland. I knew that in order for me to live it, I have to reform the systems.

And I also learned that many times accommodations and accessibilities are intertwined, but they're not. Accessibility is something that allow you accessing all these systems, whether it's employment, whether it's programs, or whether it's just infrastructure to be able to get into facilities that should be given to all women as an option. Accommodation is where you individualize those options to ask for individual ability to whether be employed or whether to get education.

And between the spaces of feminist movement and the disability movement, I felt our issues were not being addressed by either one of them. So we have to speak for ourselves. And that's what brought me to establishing accessibility for all. Because I knew that nothing about us, without us is only possible if we bring changes by ourselves, speak to the issues that are unique to racialized women, indigenous women, and those women who are new immigrants and of course, within the disability concept.

So what I ask you today is to make sure that we raise women with expectations to be fully independent by achieving economic independence when the laws force us, that we rely on our partners to provide for us. We know those systems generate an abusive relationship because there is a power imbalance, even if it's unemployment. And current law, Canadian law also still forces you to live in exclusion, live alone, because if you enter into a relationship with another partner, your disability income supports are taken back. So that is a discrimination in the laws that we must address. If you want women to be safe, if we want women to be independent and earning for themselves and for their children and have a life where we are not living, a life where we know that social exclusion leads to many, many health issues, mental health issues, it dictates your lifespan.

So employment is really tied to the overall well being of our human rights. And I'm so glad that the systems that I work to change for myself now have a legacy for some reforms. So I really want to, you know, to congratulate Canadian and provincial governments for bringing accessibility laws in place. And we did get disability credit and disability allowance last year, even though it could be better, but we still have $200 more. But I think that economic empowerment among women with disabilities is not optional.

It is an important attribute to our survival if we want to live healthy without abuse and reach our full potential. And today's day and age when Covid taught us that with technology, with proper policies in place where working from home is allowed, we can, as women with disabilities, reach our full potential, with government laws, with society really taking advantage of the newer technology and changing attitudes towards employment and economic empowerment of women with disabilities. So thank you for the opportunity.

Thank you, Meenoo. You've really inspired us to keep the fight up and to get those barriers knocked down faster. Thank you so much. I'd now like to turn to Evelyn. Evelyn Huntges, Director of Beg your pardon, Director of Indigenous Initiatives at Dawn Canada.

Evelyn, I know you're going to tell us a little bit about what Dawn Canada is and what the things are that you are working on. You've spent many years working on specific issues faced by Indigenous people with disabilities. So what specific intersections are you focused on in your work with Dawn Canada and what have you had some success with?

I just want to start by thanking for the opportunity to contribute to this important discussion. As mentioned, I serve as the Director of Indigenous Initiatives at Dawn Canada, the Disabled Women's Network of Canada.

Dawn Canada is a national organization advancing the human rights of women and gender diverse people with disabilities. Our work is grounded in an intersectional feminist human rights framework which recognizes that women with disabilities experience multiple and overlapping forms of discrimination that shape access to economic opportunity, safety and justice. For many women with disabilities, economic inequality is not the result of a single barrier. It is the result of systems that have historically excluded disabled women from employment, leadership, justice and economic decision making. If we are serious about advancing women's economic empowerment, we must address structural barriers directly around the world and in Canada, women with disabilities continue to face significant structural barriers that limit economic participation.

These barriers are not only financial they are embedded within institutions and systems that were not designed with accessibility, equity, or intersectionality in mind. One barrier that is often overlooked in discussions about economic empowerment is access to justice. For many women with disabilities, particularly Indigenous women with disabilities, economic insecurity is closely connected to experiences of violence and discrimination and to barriers within justice systems themselves. When justice systems are inaccessible or when women face discrimination when seeking support, it becomes much more difficult to protect economic rights and rebuild financial stability. When disability intersects with indigeneity, race, gender, poverty and geography and these barriers become even more pronounced.

The result is that many women with disabilities face higher rates of poverty, economic insecurity, exclusion from entrepreneurship and leadership opportunities. Removing these barriers requires more than isolated programs. It requires structural change and inclusive leadership. Don Canada looks forward to working with the leadership emerging from Canada's Department of Finance, particularly investments focused on addressing financial abuse, which is critical yet often overlooked form of gender based violence that undermines women's financial independence and economic empowerment. At Dawn Canada, one of the ways we are working towards to address the systemic barriers is through innovative leadership models that center intersectional expertise.

We have dedicated, established, dedicated national leadership roles, including my role Director of Indigenous Initiatives and our Director of Black Community Initiatives. These roles are more than representation. They are structural innovations designed to ensure Indigenous and Black leadership directly shapes policy, advocacy, program design, research and community partnerships. By embedding these perspectives within our leadership structure, we are better able to address how colonialism, racism, ableism and gender discrimination intersect to limit economic participation and access to justice. I also want to acknowledge the leadership of our Director of Black Community Initiatives.

She recently reflected on how meaningful it was to participate in a gathering in Trinidad addressing violence against Caribbean women with disabilities where culture, race and lived experience were truly centered. Her reflection reminds us that this work is not only about policy change, it is also about creating spaces where women can show up fully as themselves, reclaim dignity and rebuild community. This is the power of leadership grounded in Lived experience Another way we are addressing structural barriers is is through cross employment and partnership models that strengthen collaboration across sectors. For example, my role as Director of Indigenous Initiatives at Dawn Canada is shared through cross employment with Indigenous Disability Canada. This approach allows knowledge, leadership and community priorities to move across organizations, breaking down barriers and strengthening national advocacy.

We also work closely with partners such as Independent Living Canada and Women at the Centre, organizations that bring deep expertise in disability rights and survivor led advocacy. These collaborations allow us to connect disability rights, Indigenous leadership, black leadership and survivor led expertise in ways that traditional institutional structures often cannot. Our work also focuses on developing programs that center the lived expertise of women with disabilities who are survivors of violence. Dawn Canada's long term vision for systemic transformation is captured in our framework of root resilience, root change and root justice. This vision recognizes that gender equality, disability rights and economic empowerment are deeply interconnected.

Through initiatives aligned with Canada's National Action Plan to End Gender Based Violence, we are building supports that promote healing and peer connection. Support rights, navigation and access to justice provide accessible communication, tools and resources. These initiatives recognize that economic empowerment cannot occur without safety, dignity and access to justice. Building on this work, we are launching Scaling Resilience and Change, a national initiative that will expand survivor led programming for women with disabilities across Canada. We are also advancing this work through our Accessible Standards Canada project which focuses on identifying barriers within justice systems and improving accessibility for Black and Indigenous women with disabilities.

Economic empowerment cannot be achieved without addressing violence, systemic discrimination and inaccessible institutions. If we want inclusive economies, we must build inclusive leadership and policy frameworks. By centering intersectional leadership, survivor led expertise and cross sector collaboration, we can dismantle the structural barriers that continue to exclude women and with disabilities from economic participation. And when we invest in the leadership of the most marginalized women and gender diverse people with disabilities, we build stronger and more inclusive economies for everyone. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Evelyn. Your description of women rebuilding community is truly a global vision that women around the world at the UN this week have been talking about the need to invest in women's community building where strife has happened, where conflict has happened and where there's exclusion. So thank you for that vision.

I know that you know a lot about this. You are a leader who has worked across Pan African leader who has worked across many contexts in which women are excluded, in which there has been conflict. And you help build leadership and you help build communities back.

And your experience in lifting barriers to accessing leadership, economic livelihoods and justice for the women that you work with I think can teach us A lot today. I wonder if you'll share some of that with us.

Thank you very much and thanks once again for inviting me to be part of this panel. I'm coming from a continent that has over 1.5 billion people with half of those being women and half of that population being young people. But we have less than 20% of women controlling the means of production in Africa.

We do have countries that have been in perpetual conflict. As we all know the unwritten rule. Money does not love noise. As long as there is conflict, money flees. It thrives in an environment where there is peace, there is harmony, there is respect for property rights, there are low costs of doing business.

Some of the challenges that women in Africa have been facing over the years, especially in conflict inflicted areas, have been balancing the intersectionality of different challenges caused by war and conflict. From gender based violence, access to sexual, reproductive health rights, poverty. We also have women with disabilities. When others are fleeing being economic refugees in countries that are doing well within Africa and also abroad. Women with disabilities face multifaceted challenges in terms of moving from point A to point B, dealing with the logistics of just fleeing from conflict areas.

What about establishing a business that thrives, that remain a pipeline dream? We have countries like drc, Madagascar, Mozambique, Sudan who have been in conflict for the longest of time. And we see women there dealing with basics, basic challenges around how do they feed their families? We think the International Development Research center in the Global Affairs Canada, we are one of their partners. I think it's the biggest investment that I've seen around care justice in Africa, which has been implemented in 19 countries.

Women cannot thrive economically if they abandoned by unpaid care and care work, which in most instances in Africa is not rewarded. Those women who try to venture into business, they are faced with challenges of lack of collateral. Banks want collateral, but women do not have collateral. African women are responsible for providing 70% of the food that is being produced in Africa. But how many of them have access and control to the land?

Very few of them have. What is being done at Africa Union level in order to lessen these hindrances that women are facing to access economic opportunities? In 2021, the African Union officiated the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement which is the world's largest free trade treaty per area by member states to promote intra African trade and reduce tariff. But is this treaty gendered? Where do you place women who want to be part of the trade?

It is again a men's and a boys club. But women are pushing, they are rising, they are demanding for Their space to make sure that they have a voice and agency to also control the means of production. We have countries like Zimbabwe, where I come from, where there is the indigenisation policy. We have countries like South Africa which have the Black Economic Empowerment Act. But these policies and acts which help women to seek justice when it comes to issues of economic independence are not gendered.

It's not written how much women are supposed to get from the percentages that we see the 30%, 51% black empowerment. So at the end of the day, it continues to benefit those who are already controlling the economy. Who has access to mining rights in Africa? Who has access to the most lucrative business deals? You find women at the receiving end.

But more needs to be done to create a conducive environment for women to thrive. We at Waalpe Africa, we have been looking at the intersectionality of power, women's economic empowerment and peace. We believe that women, it's high time that they take up leadership positions. We have a campaign that we are running called TryWomen. We feel when women are in charge at the lower leadership positions in communities, they will be able to push for gendered priorities and investments in budgets that will benefit women and girls alike.

We believe that women, if they are in parliament, they will push for justice laws and policies that open doors for fellow women to thrive. All the conflicts that we see in Africa, they are being spearheaded by men. Why don't we try women as leaders? Research shows that when women lead, they are more efficient, they are more peaceful, they are more accountable. Maybe we can make do with challenges such as violence, corruption and other ills that are happening.

We have women who have been organizing since time immemorial in rural areas. Let's build the skills around the organic ways of organizing. Some of the interventions that come are being imposed on women. Why don't we enhance the skills that they already have? Why don't we link them to markets so that they can sell their produce and feed their families?

There is the emergence of technology in order to deal with care work. Why don't we also promote the use of technology amongst women who work in markets so that they can sell their produce in the comfort of their homes. This can also protect them from other forms of victimization that we see where vendors are being chased. Female vendors are being chased by police, municipal police across African countries where they have no proper certification to run just those small businesses. So what can be done to create a conducive environment for women to thrive?

We believe unpaid care and domestic work is the cornerstone to the challenges that women are facing in Africa to access economic empowerment. It is difficult for a woman to run a thriving business when she is waking up at 4am to access water. The majority of women in Africa, they travel 5 to 10 kilometers just to access water. They come back, they need to look for food. They come back, they need to tend for the sick because there is no solid health system.

It is the same women that we want to run successful business. So we believe access to justice for women should start with laws and policies that address care and treat care as a public good and treat care as a human rights. I thank you.

Thank you so much. Sita Ville. Many of the things that you're talking about resonate with the rise in conflicts across the world that we've been hearing about at the UN this week. And you have some really important and practical solutions to empower women in those contexts. So thank you for that.

Now I'd like to hear as well from our sister, Shitee Asdegoz, who is a representative from the International Disability Alliance. She's an Ethiopian disabilities rights leader and the director for advocacy and communication at the African Disability Forum, a continental membership organization representing organizations of persons with disabilities from across Africa.

Oh, you don't have a microphone, do you? Thank you for.

Thank you for the very kind introduction. Women with disabilities and access to justice. Justice that is inaccessible is justice, justice denied. And it seems we have a very good logical order to look into the Africa continent from the overall women situation narrowing down to the realities of women with disabilities in today's Africa, justice should be one of the most basic guarantees of equality. Yet for many women with disabilities, justice remains out of reach, not because the law does not exist, but because the system was never designed to fit them, to fit us.

Women with disabilities. Though the context varies from one region to another, in general across the world, the justice system, being in the justice system, I mean, being a woman and then being a woman with disability means facing multiple realities of discrimination. A deaf woman experiencing domestic violence cannot report the abuse because the police station has no sign language interpreters. A blind woman receives court document, she cannot read it because they cannot give it in accessible format or in braille. A woman with psychosocial disability, a survivor of sexual violence, is not allowed to depose in court, as law prevents people of unsound mind from being competent witness.

And so a case of rape of a woman with intellectual disability dismissed before even justice prevail.

A wheelchair user arrives at court only to find there no accessible entrance. Situations like this happens every day. They reflect structural barriers that prevent women with disabilities from being accessing justice. When women with disabilities are not believed, perpetrators act with impunity. Justice cannot depend on whether a woman can hear the police officer, read the court document, climb the courthouse stairs, or communicate in the way the system expects.

For justice to be real for everyone, the justice system in its entirety must adopt and be inclusive. Women with disabilities must be able to report violence, be heard in court, and seek protection under the law. When justice systems become accessible to women with disabilities, they become stronger or everyone.

Key structural problems identified by the CRP Committee explains as follows. Under the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, States must ensure equal access to justice for persons with disabilities, including through procedural accommodation and accessible legal system. We are far from this right being a reality. Across many countries, the Committee has identified common barriers that prevent persons with disabilities from access to justice. Lack of procedural accommodation Illegal proceedings Lack of accessible information and communication mechanisms.

Inaccessible court buildings and police facilities. Prejudice and stereotypes among judges and police officers. Laws that deny legal standing or testimony to persons with disabilities. Lack of legal aid and support services. These barriers particularly affect women with disabilities who experience gender based violence.

Let us think for a moment of a teenage girl with intellectual disability who has been forcibly, forcibly sterilized and bodily autonomy and legal capacity violated, with her parents having made the decision for her without consent. What do we need to do for her to have access to justice for the violation of rights? If we cannot answer this question and we cannot implement the answer, then we have truly failed in achieving access to justice for all. I thank you.

I'm now going to ask a round of questions. I know the Minister needs to go. Thank you, Minister, for your attention to this really important topic and for your warm introduction. Thank you very much.

And I know Canadian Ambassador Lametti is going to join me up here because he can't resist.

So I want to ask a round of questions of the panelists. We've talked a lot about the barriers. We've talked a lot about the important work that you've been doing in many parts of the world to ensure that women have better access to employment opportunities, to justice, to fair pay, to the solid aspects of community they need to be able to live their lives fully. I'm wondering, as we hear about all of the troubles in the world this week and all of the ways in which gender equality is being pushed back, what gives you hope in the work that you're doing so that you get up tomorrow and you keep doing that work? What is the piece of Hope you have, Is it something that you've seen that has worked?

Is it something you're working on now? Is it something that you hope for, for the future? So I'm going to go in back to the order we originally spoke in. So, Laurie, I want to start with you, if that's okay,

first. Thank you. So I'm going to keep mine a bit narrow and focused on the first piece, which is what really has given me hope, is seeing this proactive pay equity system working or starting to work like it was designed to. Seeing the data coming in that is really showing that what we knew was there is there. We knew there were wage gaps and there's data showing us that that's true.

And then we're also seeing that these are being corrected and they're being corrected in a way that they're going to have to be maintained. So that that gives me the hope. But what I would like to see beyond the hope, what I hope for, for, is that we take that system, we take what we learn from it and the design of it, and we look to say, how do we apply that more broadly? How do we look at other groups when we talk about, you know, the intersecting discrimination that women are facing and the wage gaps that are facing all different groups of women, how do we apply these systems to correct that so that we can design solutions that are really leaving no one behind? So that's where my hope is, is that we'll get to a point where proactive systems address systemic discrimination.

Thank you. Thank you, Laurie.

Magnolia.

I think for me, what gives me hope is that across Canada we're seeing a growing number of Indigenous entrepreneurs, including many Indigenous women, launching businesses and creating economic opportunities in their communities. Approximately 33% of indigenous businesses in Canada are women owned. And Indigenous women are starting businesses at twice the rate of non Indigenous Women. And in 2018, when I started with NACA, our lending across our network of Indigenous financial institutions, the number of loans going to businesses that were owned either 100% or partially owned by Indigenous women entrepreneurs was sitting around 23% and now we're sitting at around 35%. So I'm really proud of that growing statistic.

There's still a lot of work to be done to reach gender equality and equity. But I think, you know, this is a result of our efforts to build tailored programming for Indigenous women entrepreneurs. We've invested in gender based analysis training for the business loans officers, financial officers working within our network. And ultimately we're taking that success that we've seen in Our program for Indigenous women entrepreneurs and we're now building out new programs to support our younger demographic. So building an indigenous youth entrepreneurship for program as they are our fastest growing population and we want to provide them with opportunities for the future.

Ultimately entrepreneurship is a challenging path, especially in the early days. Yet Indigenous women are continuing to lead and innovate in this space which speaks to their strength and resilience. Now I go. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Magnolia, for your work in this area and the great successes you've had. Minou, over to you. Thank you.

What gives me hope is I remember attending the Beijing conference in 1995 and women with disabilities were alone in one tent because there was women's agenda did not include women with disabilities as well as there was no accessibility. So. So we could not access any of the conference from that day to this CSW where we're sitting in the Journal Council. We are sitting in around the Table, a forum organized by the Canadian Women foundation and the Minister where we're talking about women with disabilities, including in Women's Agenda. That is a progress, that is an inclusion that I had seen over 30 years.

But also the laws that have come in effect, crpd the Accessibility Canada Act, Accessibility for Ontarians with Disability act which really talking about proactive approach to women's economic empowerment, women's access, access to justice and infrastructure, accessibility. So today when we talk about building, building homes, accessibility is already part and parcel of it. We are not an afterthought that we come and react to the situation. So what my hope is when I sit on Canadian Women foundation and they seek grants, they also seek grants for women who are neurodivergent, who are supporting groups with autism. So disability is engraved and embedded in the work that is taking place.

And I am very, very hopeful with proper implementation of those laws that exist, we will not be taking our complaints one at a time to the human diversity, human rights councils or human rights instrument. We are part of the progress that is being made. And last point is as the conflict are arising, we know that women and children who are left mentally or traumatized with disabilities and rehabilitative programs I really hope will include that disability progress that we are making here. We are not leaving our sisters and our kids in those conflict area without access to accessible rehabilitative services and employment programs like we enjoy here. So that is my hope and that is what I am very, very hopeful that we will demand that inclusion.

Thank you. And continue to see it.

Okay, we're running out of time and I want to make sure that our honorable guest, Isabelle Zamora has a chance to close for us. The rest of you who didn't get to speak to your hopes, I invite you to step out into the delegates area when we're done here and we'll share our hopes out there. I think there's many more conversations for us to have, so my apologies, we're running a little over time from such a rich conversation. Over to you, Minister.

Thank you very much, Ambassador, Excellencies, distinguished delegates, honoured representatives of the governments of Canada and Sweden and my home country, the Philippines. Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. I would like to commend the organizers and panelists of this event and I would like to congratulate all of you for its success. As we close this session, I would like to thank our panelists for sharing their experiences and insights. Most life experiences are tough.

They are tough to share. Let us appreciate our speakers for standing up today and always and let us learn from them. I would like to share how the Philippine experience shows that lasting progress is possible when policies, partnerships and people work together. The Philippines firmly affirms that women's economic empowerment is indispensable to sustainable development when women are enabled to participate fully and equally in the economy, families are uplifted, communities prosper and nations grow stronger. Removing structural barriers to women's economic empowerment requires transforming social systems that have long constrained women's opportunities in the Philippines.

This commitment is anchored in a strong legislative and policy framework. The Magna Carta of Women affirms that women's rights are human rights and mandates all government agencies to institutionalize gender mainstreaming. The Safe Spaces act addresses sexual harassment in streets, schools, workplaces and online platforms. We have the Anti Sexual Harassment act of 1995 and the 105 day expanded maternity leave Law which safeguard women's dignity, safety and health in the workplace. Through the Pantawid Pamiliang Filipino Program act, which literally means crossing families over.

Indigent women are prioritized as beneficiaries of conditional cash transfers, strengthening their role in household decision making. The Telecommuting act promotes flexible work arrangements that help balance professional and family responsibilities to advance women entrepreneurship. The Magna Carta for SMMES mandates financial institutions to allocate at least 10% of their loan portfolios to micro, small and medium enterprises for women. Philippine government financial institutions likewise provide targeted lending facilities for women led enterprises. This is complemented by other government initiatives such as microfinance program, expanded access to digital financial services and skills training.

The Philippines firmly links women's economic empowerment with peace and security. We are proud to be the first country in Asia to adopt a national action plan for women peace and security in line with the UN Security Security Council Resolution 1325. Admittedly, challenges remain. There are provisions in our present laws that remain discriminatory against women with regard to parental authority and the administration of community property and conjugal property. As a legislator, I have filed bills to address these issues and we are currently working to revise our laws to further empower Filipina wives and mothers.

We are working on proposed amendments to strengthen protections against technology facilitated violence in order for women and children to participate confidently and safely in the digital economy. All of our countries have many laws. Admittedly, the problem is in the implementation.

On a personal note, just last week a colleague from our House of Representatives gave a misogynistic remark during a Committee on justice hearing where I was a member of, where I was taking part in. I was completely enraged and offended as the male colleague was giving a remark about a famous. A beautiful, famous actress. And I called him out for the offensive remark. And actually it became very newsworthy the past week.

I think that in countries that still find fun in misogynistic remarks, cultural barriers such as this heighten structural barriers and prevent women empowerment. This culture must be changed. So in closing, let us collaborate. The Philippines stands ready to collaborate. All of us need to be proactive.

Governments must have political will and inclusive leadership. As many of you have said, let us allow women their right to self determination and create opportunities for themselves. Let us expand access to capital, address geographic barriers, support training and capacity building of women and support their independence and empowerment. Let us support families, persons with disabilities, health care and accessibility and allow for survivor led expertise such that we will support women. There is a lot of work to be done, but as we always say, there is still a chance for us to be hopeful when women thrive, economies are more dynamic, peace is more durable and societies are more resilient.

Thank you very much.

That was it.

Thank you everyone for your attention and please do mingle and share your stories of hope and resilience.

Ladies and gentlemen, we're just about to start. If I could encourage you to find your seats.

If I can encourage you to find your seats, Ursula.

And for those of you who are in the room earlier, you will know that this room is very sensitive to sound. So some of those interesting conversations for the top rows could hear every word. Some were interesting. But if we can please ask you if you need to have a convers.