Issue 13 - March 4, 2015

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A tribute to women on the homefront Rosewood House resident shares her story

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Golden Hawks set sights on CFL Combine

Issue 13 | Wednesday, March 4, 2015 | www.thesputnik.ca

WALKING AWAY

FROM

UNFAIR WAGES THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT TO IMPROVE CONTRACT ACADEMIC STAFF POSITIONS SPREADS TO LAURIER BRANTFORD

Nadine Saba Staff On Feb. 25, staff and students across the United States walked out of classrooms at noon. It was the first National Adjunct Walkout Day, where students and professors stood in protest for the job security, fair pay and support of adjuncts. Although the movement was most prominent in the US, its efforts and goals are alive

and well in Canada, even here at Laurier. An adjunct, the American name for a contract staff member, is hired part-time but in many cases, works full-time hours. In the United States, parttime instructors make up 76 per cent of staff. There is no official record in Canada, but a 2014 article by the CBC estimated that 50 per cent of classes are taught by contract faculty. Prof. Sue Ferguson, an associate professor of Digital Media and Journalism at Laurier Brantford, said she thinks the walkout’s biggest impact will be raising consciousness of the issue rather than changing the ways universities will fund fu-

ture teachers. At Laurier, contract faculty teach about 50 per cent of students and earn about $18,000 a year. The average annual household income is $76,000 in Canada. To enroll in the Laurier Pension Plan, part-time faculty must register manually as they are not automatically included. They also do not receive regulated dental or health benefits. Since it is cheaper to hire part-time staff, there is an increase in hired contract faculty. Often, parttime faculty work full-time hours with part-time wages. Due to such financial constraints, it is difficult for contract faculty to spend the necessary

time with students as many simply cannot put in more hours working for free. “It’s like sweatshop labour, really,” Prof. Ferguson said. “We get so upset about people working in sweatshops overseas but you look around you and you in fact have people who are working under poverty-level wages at your university teaching you. That’s really something to be appalled at.”

many achievements since then, many serious gaps remain. This is the time to uphold women’s achievements, recognize challenges, and focus greater attention on women’s rights and gender equality to mobilize all people to do their part,” says the UN International Women’s Day webpage. This year’s initiative will focus on the twelve major themes of the 1995 Beijing Initiative: “poverty; education and training; health; violence; armed conflict; economy; power and decisionmaking; institutional mechanisms; human rights; media; environment; and the girl child.” According to the Status of Women in Canada, the Nation has declared its 2015 International Women’s Day theme as “Strong Women. Strong World. Improving Economic Opportunities for All”. The City of Brantford has not yet proclaimed International Women’s Day. According to City Councillor, Cheryl Antoski of Ward 4, “The clerk’s office researched what had last been done in recognizing International Woman’s Day, and they found a resolution from 2010 that asked the City of Brantford and it’s resident’s to support the efforts of the International Women’s Day Committees.” After being elected this past fall, Antoski is

the only woman sitting on Brantford’s City Council. “Brantford certainly lags behind many other communities in terms of the number of women on Council. To accurately have proportional representation for Brantford, we should have 5 women on Council.” says Antoski. Brantford has never had more than two women sit on council in a term. In regards to why Brantford more women are not involved in municipal politics, Antoski explained, “Being on Council is a huge time commitment that would be impossible for women who don’t have the full support of their family. In my opinion, women are fantastic multitaskers and are capable of this challenge, but without the fullhearted support, it can add strain to a family. Also, we need to encourage strong women and not see this as aggressive or contrary.” In regards to Canada’s theme of “Strong Women. Strong World.” Anotski says, “I do identify with this theme … I am certainly seeing great strides in this regard. Many of our leaders in education, various agencies, industry, excreta, are women. I believe that if you were to look at statistics of 10 years ago to now, that you would see a very noticeable increase in numbers.” Lin Fines, of the Brantford chapter of The Ca-

nadian Federation of University Women (CFUW), says that the organization is working with Brantford’s Nova Vita to host the Women of Excellence Awards on March 4. The 6th annual Women of Excellence Awards is Nova Vita’s International Women’s Day fundraiser, which operates to highlight the achievements of local women, while raising money to help women affected by domestic violence in the Brantford community. According to Nova Vita’s website, last year’s event raised $40,000. “This year there are 18 nominees and an award in each of five categories.” says Fines, “The event will follow a similar format to the previous five years - doors open at 5:30 for a silent auction, dinner will be around 6:30, Kate Davis will be our after dinner speaker - and at 9 p.m. we will honor this year’s recipients of the Women of Excellence Awards.” CFUW will be participating in International Women’s Day events across Canada, “CFUW National helps clubs across Canada to focus on resolutions and concrete projects with measurable outcomes [and] community driven long-term interventions which empower, protect, educate, and nurture girls and women, providing them with equal rights and opportunities.” says Fines.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

Brantford groups celebrate local women Taylor Berzins News Editor

International Women’s Day is March 8, and this year the UN is looking to challenge nations to enact equal rights for women. In what began as small celebrations of women throughout Europe in 1911, by 1977 the UN had created a resolution to have March 8 be recognized as International Women’s Day. Centered on the twentieth anniversary of The Beijing Declaration, International Women’s Day 2015 is operating as a platform to call for the empowerment of women and to encourage development in the role of women as economic actors. The UN has declared the international theme of 2015’s International Women’s Day as “Empowering Women, Empowering Humanity: Picture it!” The Beijing Declaration was created by the UN in 1995, and was signed by 189 governments. 20 years later, the goals of the Beijing Declaration have still not been met, “While there have been

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