N. Johns, J. Havelock
Introduction
This document reports on the Rural Women's Action Workshop held on April
7-8, 2006 in Carlyle, Saskatchewan.
This work with rural women began as a follow-up to the Rural Remote
and Northern Women's Health report, and was moved forward by the creation
of the Rural Women's Issues Committee of Saskatchewan (RWICS).
Rural, Remote And Northern Women's Health Report
In June 2004, the Prairie Women's Health Centre of Excellence (PWHCE)
and the Centres of Excellence for Women's Health (CEWH) released the
report Rural, Remote and Northern Women's Health: Research and Policy
Directions. This was a comprehensive, national project on the health
concerns of women who live in rural, remote and northern Canada (see
page 3). As requested by the community women involved in the project,
a plain language community kit was developed shortly afterwards. PWHCE
also committed to providing other follow-up to the research report.
In September 2004 PWHCE began working with rural women in Saskatchewan
as one step in carrying forward the Rural, Remote and Northern Women's
Health report's recommendations.
A Rural Women's Health Workshop was held November 17, 2004 at the Christ
Lutheran Church in Young, Saskatchewan. The purpose of the workshop
was to offer women the opportunity to become familiar with the national
Report's recommendations and determine other recommendations and follow-up
action for Saskatchewan. Some of the participants had participated in
focus groups as part of the initial research for the national project.
New participants included rural women, Métis women and Francophone women.
The women at the workshop identified a wide range of factors affecting
the well-being of rural women in their local communities, and began
determining actions to address these factors. It was evident that more
time was needed to move from ideas to actions. The Rural Women's Issues
Committee of Saskatchewan was formed at that meeting, to determine how
this group might meet again, and also how to involve other rural women
in similar events.
RWICS Workshops
RWICS held a second workshop in Young, Saskatchewan on March 15, 2005,
sponsored by PWHCE. To address the issues identified at the November
meeting the women produced detailed action plans and made personal commitments
to move the actions forward. RWICS received a grant in April 2005 from
the Women's Program of Status of Women Canada. The grant, combined with
continued support from the Prairie Women's Health Centre of Excellence,
the Centre for Rural Studies and Enrichment in Muenster, Saskatchewan,
and the support of its enthusiastic volunteer committee members, enabled
RWICS to propel its work.
As a result, workshops were held on:
April 25th - 26th, 2005 in Nipawin, Saskatchewan
May 17th -18th, 2005 in Swift Current, Saskatchewan
April 7th - 8th, 2006 in Carlyle, Saskatchewan.
RWICS Goals
Saskatchewan has a strong history with women and women's organizations
leading the way to many policy improvements and important social reforms.
In recent years changing demographics, reductions in funding to women's
organizations and the triple workload that rural and farm women carry,
have made it more difficult for rural women's organizations to remain
active and present their views.
In its work RWICS hopes to link with individuals and organizations working
to improve the situation of rural women and to help to bring the recommendations
of rural women forward to decision-makers. Our goal is to support and
encourage rural women to name their own issues, create their personal
action plans and achieve their own visions.
Full Report (English) PDF (389KB)
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