Punk-Ass Book Jockey

Hey Canadian flisters,

Please take a minute to read this article in the Toronto Star. The Conservative government has added to the budget a piece of legislation that removes the legal right of any woman in the federal civil service to fight pay discrimination via the normal, effective channels. From the article:

It removes any chance women in the federal civil service have of fighting for pay equity by denying them the right to complain to the Human Rights Commission, or to go to court, when they believe there is discrimination. Instead, pay equity issues are to be solved as part of the regular bargaining process but - get this! - if anyone agitates on the basis of pay equity, they face a $50,000 fine. So the Conservative regime is forbidding a woman from fighting for herself and, simultaneously, penalizing her union from fighting for her.

Obviously, this is Not Okay.

After reading, it would be great if you'd take a minute to voice your opinion to TPTB. ( Here's how you do that )

(ETA: I had posted my letter to TPTB in this post, too, but I'm a little wary about making this journal google-able. I'll repost it in a locked post.)

This government is also responsible for shutting 12 of the 16 Status of Women offices in Canada, as well as removing the word "equality" from their mandate.

Time for us to make a fuss, people. This shit can't continue.

I've been following that godawful, beyond-ludicrous story about the school in upstate NY where three students were suspended for using the word "vagina" while performing The Vagina Monologues. The latest update from CBC (here) says that the suspension has been "postponed".

I started to write to the people involved to voice my sheer disbelief that it had been effected at all, and to break down into very simple language why it was problematic (for the benefit of the principal, whom cannot be all that thoughtful or intelligent, since he made that decision), but I gave up. The level of frustration it engenders in me is just too high, and I like my calm Saturdays.

If any of you feel like sending some !!!s the way of the people involved, though, the Principal's name is Richard Leprine, and his email address is rleprine@klschools.org. The District Superintendent, who postponed the suspension (not canceled, you note), is Bob Lichtenfeld, and his email address is blichtenfeld@klschools.org.

The other story that I was reminded about is that the current Canadian government recently neatly hobbled the Status of Women office, reducing their operating budget by 40% (5 million cut from a 12.5 million dollar budget... that's in Canadian dollars, peeps, so in other words, it's small by any standard), and... wait for it... removing the word "equality" from their mandate.

Anyway, the combination of the two makes me feel that I need to be a more active feminist. I'm already involved, kind of: I read the mags; I sing in a social-justice, feminist all-woman choir; I try hard to get my roommate to stop rejecting feminism as relevant to her life; I'm pro-sex; I'm in fandom, for godsake. But I've still got itchy feet.