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The last national leaders’ debate on women’s issues was in 1984.


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"The last national leaders’ debate on women’s issues was the only national leaders debate on women’s issues in Canadian history. It was held in 1984."

“This marks the creation of a new tradition,” National Action Committee on the Status of Women President Chaviva Hosek said in her introduction to the televised debate, “a tradition that now takes its natural place in the political process of Canada.”

That didn’t happen.

There were a handful of other national debates on women’s issues, but never with the political leaders. They sent their representatives, and women’s issues slid back under the rock of political neglect.

A new campaign 'Up for Debate' has been created by a group of organizations. The top 3 topics up for discussion:

violence against women and girls; women’s economic inequality, and women’s leadership, where they want the government to re-invest in advocacy.

Only two party leaders have commited, NDP and the Green Party.

I can understand Harper's non commitment because of funding cuts to women's groups but what happened to JT?

An interesting fact: 500,000 more women than men voted last election. Why aren't we being heard?

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Say what? Can you elaborate with a thoughtful response?

Women don't need a sepaprate debate. Issues that affect them probably affect men too, and specific issues can be discussed within a debate. My point wasn't hard to understand. Women's issues are issues, they aren't separate.

Edited by Smallc
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Women don't need a sepaprate debate. Issues that affect them probably affect them too, and specific issues can be discussed within a debate. My point wasn't hard to understand. Women's issues are issues, they aren't separate.

Apparently they are separate debates. We still don't have 'subsidized or universal daycare', an inquiry into domestic violence against women, especially aboriginal women and other critical issues that affect women.

I'm still not sure I understand your point here.

Edited by WestCoastRunner
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Women don't need a sepaprate debate. Issues that affect them probably affect them too, and specific issues can be discussed within a debate. My point wasn't hard to understand. Women's issues are issues, they aren't separate.

That's ridiculous. That's like saying racial issues aren't issues, or homosexual issues aren't issues.

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That's ridiculous. That's like saying racial issues aren't issues, or homosexual issues aren't issues.

Seems to me that those that approach from the obvious right dont want to delve into issues which may have some thorns in them such as those you list, and of course there are more. I dont quite get the fear factor of doing so as it can often be educational.

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Women don't need a sepaprate debate. Issues that affect them probably affect them too, and specific issues can be discussed within a debate. My point wasn't hard to understand. Women's issues are issues, they aren't separate.

Your point is that a man should decide that women don't have separate issues.

:/

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That's ridiculous. That's like saying racial issues aren't issues, or homosexual issues aren't issues.

I said that they're simply issues that have to be addressed by all of us. I didn't say that they weren't issues.

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Your point is that a man should decide that women don't have separate issues.

:/

My point is that women's issues are issues, just like any other issues. We don't have a men's issues debate either, nor should we.

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Apparently they are separate debates. We still don't have 'subsidized or universal daycare', an inquiry into domestic violence against women, especially aboriginal women and other critical issues that affect women

Those are societal issues that affect everyone. That's my point. Why cheapen them by putting them in their own debate.

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How does debating these issues separately "cheapen" them, exactly?

Very few men are going to watch a debate on womens issues. Very few women are going to watch a debate on mens issues. That gives each group of issues a much smaller audience, and serves nothing.

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Very few men are going to watch a debate on womens issues. Very few women are going to watch a debate on mens issues. That gives each group of issues a much smaller audience, and serves nothing.

If women's issues are, as you say, universal, why wouldn't men watch such a debate?

Edited by Black Dog
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That's not the point. The point is that everone has separate issues, but they affect more that just themselves, or the group to which they belong.

As a father of daughters, I care about women's issues. Having a gay member of the family, I care about LGBT issues. Being male, I care about men's issues. Not as much, but that's what being a father is.

It's a good point. It doesn't mean to my mind, that they can't have separate forums. In fact, as I use the "show posts from the last week" option, I don't actually ever meet any forum names.

Edited by bcsapper
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Personally, I do not see any difference between an issue that that will affect women more than men and vice versa. Breast cancer is as important as prostate cancer to any couple.

As to interests, I believe that it would be a mistake for anyone to decide what issue or topic is of more or less interest to a woman or a man. It smacks of misogyny and stereotyping.

Also, if you are requesting views of only one gender then are you not automatically assuming that the views will depend on gender?

When I post I speak for myself only - not all males or all elderly or all retired educators or all anything.

Edited by Big Guy
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Which are the issues that aren't already talked about and understood? Which of those are actually solvable, here, in the real world? O, and of those, which of them are based upon some level of myth but still perpetuated as fact by some in effort to gain an advantage of some sort. For example, can we admit that not only are women far outpacing men when it comes to enrolement in university, and doing better in the job market than men, and if so can we ask that commercials about all of these poor little girls who need to be given a leg up to over come how difficult their lives are, be removed from the air?

Can we also talk about the wage gap myth, not that it doesn't exist, but that it is much less than is always suggested and by and large exists because women choose to have children and tend to workd less hard than thier male counter parts. I suppose not How about domestic violence perpetuated by women, what should women do about that problem? I will not dispute that there are still issues that more affect women than men, some of them quite horrible, but things in some areas have definetly improved, we can't fix everyhting or completely change our nature.

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What exactly is a woman's issue? Traditionally, womens issues were those which dealt with children and family. You'll forgive me, but that notion is very old fashioned nowadays. Womens issues are exactly the same as mens issues. There are none I can think of at the federal level which affect only women. Even daycare is an issue which affects all parents not simply 'women'. The women I know care about things like the economy, unemployment, high taxes, policing and health care. If anyone can think of a list of political issues which are of specific concern to women and not to men, then go for it.

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What exactly is a woman's issue? Traditionally, womens issues were those which dealt with children and family. You'll forgive me, but that notion is very old fashioned nowadays. Womens issues are exactly the same as mens issues. There are none I can think of at the federal level which affect only women. Even daycare is an issue which affects all parents not simply 'women'. The women I know care about things like the economy, unemployment, high taxes, policing and health care. If anyone can think of a list of political issues which are of specific concern to women and not to men, then go for it.

The issues that affect both men and women tend to affect them in different ways.

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Which kind of underscores the need to talk about these issues separately instead of burying them like you want.

How does involving everyone in a discussion bury an issue. Womens issues are issues that affect all of us.

The issues that affect both men and women tend to affect them in different ways.

So what?

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