Women's Centre of Calgary

Published purpose

This 30-month project will support a feminist response and recovery from the current impacts of COVID-19, through systemic change. Women’s Centre of Calgary will achieve this by convening caucuses of diverse women, including Black, Indigenous, racialized, and migrant women, to collectively identify the key gender equality issues they face as a result of the pandemic, such as barriers to their economic security and leadership; performing evidence-based and anecdotal reviews of the disproportionate impacts of the pandemic and intersectional gender gaps within existing recovery plans; developing an inclusivity toolkit and an inclusive feminist recovery agenda that is community-informed and incorporates the input of diverse women with lived experiences; and convening ongoing meetings and consultations with key stakeholders to mobilize support across sectors for the agenda’s systemic change solutions. At the end of the project, the organization will have contributed to addressing systemic barriers by advancing inclusive policies and practices, increasing networks and collaboration to accelerate systemic change, and supporting positive distribution of authority, voices, and decision-making power to support women’s equality. Through this project, marginalized women’s groups, particularly BIPOC women and women involved in migrant and care work, will be given opportunities to lead the development of a toolkit and recovery plan that contains key recommendations for removing systemic barriers and advancing equality. Women’s Centre of Calgary will leverage existing relationships with their Social Policy Collaborative partners and will build networks with other equity-seeking groups and officials to advance the recommendations towards a recovery from the impacts of COVID-19. The project’s impact will be documented through an evaluation.