hark, our site is live

my friend and fellow agitator, audra, and i have been plotting a wee side project. enough content is up there to constitute a respectable launch for statusreport.ca. we're mighty excited and proud.

doing their part to prove the theory 'build it and they will come', a good number of talented women have already knocked on the door of the virtual office to help with the project (by good number, i mean enough for a perfect dinner party, not so many that we're tripping all over each other). baby step by baby step, more cool content will be added, more energy will be channeled, more light bulbs will be turned on. please spread the word about this. buy a vowel. phone a friend. make the deal. work for change. get people going.

For Immediate Release

ODA AND HARPER TO GET A REAL-ITY CHECK: Website to combat inaccuracies and indifference towards Status Of Women Canada

HALIFAX/OTTAWA, October 11, 2006 – A new website launches today to rally support for Status of Women Canada (SWC) and related issues.

Statusreport.ca will house objective information about the federal agency, along with tools and motivation for people to lobby the federal government to revisit changes made to the agency's funding and objectives.

Nine months after committing to take concrete and immediate steps to increase women's equality in Canada, the Harper administration has slashed 40 per cent of SWC’s administrative budget, removed all references to “equality” from SWC’s mandate, and changed rules in order to disallow groups from doing advocacy or lobbying with federal funds.

"The Harper Conservatives are clearly out of touch with reality,” stated site co-founder Audra Williams, "Oda and Harper have 16 million female constituents whose equality and rights they are obligated to ensure."

“They try to paint women’s groups who speak out on this issue as victimized or partisan,” said Pam Kapoor, site co-founder, “To counter that kind of ludicrous spin, we’ve set up this independent space where anyone who cares about women’s equality can participate in the project to protect SWC.”

Williams and Kapoor condemn Conservative messaging that labels advocates of women’s equality as focused on women’s weaknesses: “Enough with their convenient dismissals,” said Williams, “Sustained commitment to women’s equality requires tremendous strength – especially nowadays, given the onslaught of inaccurate rhetoric from the right.”

Statusreport.ca is non-partisan, unaffiliated with any women’s organization or political party. Williams and Kapoor, with an ad-hoc group of creative women, are dedicated to raising awareness about the importance of SWC and the role it should continue to play in the struggle for women’s full equality in Canada.

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Audra Williams and Pam Kapoor are communications consultants based in Halifax and Gatineau, respectively.

For information: contact (at) statusreport (dot) ca; statusreport.ca