New Family Law Legislation for BC

http://www.ag.gov.bc.ca/legislation/family-law/index.htm

Today’s the day BC’s Family Law Act comes into force. The Family Law Act is substantially similar to Manitoba’s Family Property Act; it treats common law couples and married couples the same for the purposes of property equalization upon relationship break-up. Manitoba made this change almost 10 years ago, in 2004. We reported on an SCC case earlier this year that upheld the Quebec legislation, which does NOT grant such rights to common law (“de facto”) couples (2013 SCC 5, known as “Eric v Lola”). So Canada is a bit of a patchwork on this issue.

While granting these kinds of rights to common law couples has always proven controversial (note that under the new BC law, it only takes 2 years of living together in a conjugal relationship to considered common law; it takes 3 years in Manitoba, and many people consider that too short a time to have their property become sharable), many people also see the societal benefit in protecting vulnerable people who might not otherwise be entitled to anything when they split with their partner, just because they aren’t legally married. For people who contribute unpaid work to the relationship (often women), this is an especially important issue.

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Stereotype This!

A picture shared on our Facebook page. I love it!

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Educating Men Instead of Women

http://jezebel.com/5989628/rape-victim-has-nerve-to-suggest-that-maybe-men-should-be-taught-not-to-rape

“When political analyst Zerlina Maxwell appeared on Fox’s Hannity this week, she suggested that preventing rape in America might have to do less with informing women to get guns/learn self-defense/dress different/drink less/what have you than it does with… teaching men, from a young age, not to rape”

I certainly think her statement is logical, but apparently not everyone on Fox thought so. I encourage you all to check out the link above (there’s a great video clip if you don’t want to read the article)!

And I wanted to share one more paragraph from the above article that I thought was good:

“Maxwell, a rape survivor herself, illuminates the right wing tendency to want women to arm themselves because they assume that true “rape” is only perpetrated by a stranger in a ski mask with a gun who jumps out of the bushes. In fact, obviously, many rapes are committed by people the victim knows and trusts, even loves, says Maxwell: ‘Telling every woman to get a gun is not rape prevention. […] We need a reality check. We’re talking about the wrong things. We’re asking the wrong questions.'”

Here’s a great comment from our Facebook Page:

Annika Friesen: “How ludicrous! No criminal is going to listen to an ad campaign! Goodness, I commend this woman for trying to bring some rational thought to Fox News… Love their strategy of just yelling over top of her to prevent the audience from hearing said rational thoughts…”

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“Lean In”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/feminists-need-to-challenge-themselves-too/article9234516/

The above article discusses how: “Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook, has done something pretty gutsy. She has written a manifesto about breaking the glass ceiling, called Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, and is drawing fire for it, because she argues that women often sabotage themselves….She wants her “Lean In” circles – all-women spaces to be supported by corporate workplaces – to teach women negotiation, public speaking and other skills, all merged with upbeat collective support.”

The article goes through techniques that Sandberg suggests to help women improve themselves, such as changing their voices to being more declaratory and straightening their posture (things men from elite backgrounds are trained to do from birth).

(Thanks to Kamini for the article)

Some of the comments this article received on our FB Page were:

Briony Haig: “I think she’s right. I see young girls & women apologizing their way through life!”

Elizabeth Mitchell: “This article leaves me cold, personally. I agree with Briony that apologizing all the time isn’t where it’s at, but at its heart, I feel like this article is about finding a way to fit women into the mould of what an ideal male leader looks like. There’s no consideration that some women have their own style of speaking or of interacting with people that is valuable, too, even if it’s not always as aggressive. I’m constantly being told that I need to speak louder, and I hate it, because I’m not lacking confidence, I just speak more softly than some. And as we talked about at the roundtable last week, there are more “feminine” ways of negotiating/resolving disputes that can be incredibly effective, but I bet that’s not what Sheryl Sandberg has in mind.”

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Roundtable Success

Big thanks to all who attended our excellent round table discussion today, most especially authors of “Mediation: the ‘Girly’ Litigation”, Dr Jennifer L Schulz and Jocelyn Turnbull! Special thanks also to Mediators Beyond Borders for doing so much of the organizing.

Dr. Schulz and Jocey spent the first half of the hour (while the rest of us munched on Tim Bits– thanks Dr S– and Lynn’s world famous “moot” cookies) summarizing their argument that, because mediation is gendered female, it has come to be under-valued as against litigation, which is gendered masculine. They proposed some interesting ideas for modifying law school curricula to better accomodate theoretical and practical learning about alternative dispute resolution (including mediation), which they say is very much the present and future reality of the practice of law.

A lively discussion ensued in the second half-hour. Questions included, “Isn’t it really the legal profession itself that is actively undervaluing mediation as opposed to litigation, and if so, what can we do about it?” Stories about seniour lawyers dismissing mediation out of hand as a mandatory-but-useless “kumbaya” step toward The Real Deal, ie., litigation, were particularly illustrative of this point. Other questions included whether mediation might be undervalued because it is not binding, unreported, less “effective”, and not because of its “gender”. Dr Schulz also explained what practical steps need to be taken to implement major changes to Robson Hall’s curriculum, and why this tends to be a slow moving process. The round-table wrapped up with a brief brainstorm on what other aspects of the practice of law could be seen as gendered female; upon telling a friend that she planned to practice human rights or environmental law, one attendee reported that her friend reacted with the comment that these areas of practice were “women’s law”. This got a big laugh, but also left the rest of us with lots to ponder going forward.

Thanks again, one and all!

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99 Problems

This picture was something a friend posted on Facebook and I thought I would share it on here 🙂

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Women Fly Free

Hello FLFers,
Here’s an interesting event if you’re looking for something to do on March 9th. Unfortunately, only women and girls fly free, but thought I’d still pass it on 🙂

https://www.facebook.com/#!/events/515242631849894/

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Boys Will Be Boys

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/boys-will-be-boys-schools-need-to-understand-that/article8616440/

This article, posted on the FLF Facebook Page by FLF Vice-Chair Rhea Majewski, got some pretty interesting comments.

The article itself is by Margaret Wente who argues that “Mock battles and mock violence are a normal part of boyhood,” and points to a specific example in Maryland to make her point: “In Maryland, a six-year-old was suspended for one day for – yes – pointing his finger like a gun.” What Wente is demonstrating is how society tries to punish boys for just being boys.

Wente goes on to criticize the public school system for punishing boys for not being able to sit still and pay attention like girls. Additionally she says “The schools have become more and more hostile to boys’ inclinations and interests. They have abolished competition in favour of co-operation – even though boys thrive on competition. They’ve outlawed rough-and-tumble play (too dangerous) and even cancelled recess altogether. In high school, they bore boys to death instead of teaching them how to make and build stuff.”

Some interesting points were made in the article perhaps (if you take them with a grain of salt), but after reading this article I couldn’t help but think Wente only takes one kind of boy into consideration, that is the stereotypical rough and tumble, competitive type of boy. I think it’s safe to say that growing-up most of us didn’t go to school with just this one type of boy. I know many who could sit still and pay attention and preferred academics to building stuff and the same goes for girls, some girls preferred sports and woodworking to sitting quietly in a desk.

Thoughts FLFers? Here’s a few of the colourful comments this article received on Facebook:

Elizabeth Mitchell: “even if there may be kernels of truth in this article, I still think that Margaret Wente is a giant twerp”

Jayme Menzies: “I was waiting for a giant punchline lathered in irony, but was ultimately disappointed.”

Simon Jack: “Remember: even when she’s right, she’s still committed the gross error of being Margaret Wente. I am completely serious, BTW.  That said, this article makes a lot more sense than your usual Wente article.”

 

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Unequal Pay in the US: The Gender Wage Gap

http://www.learnstuff.com/equal-education-unequal-pay/

The attached infographic was sent to the FLF by a contributor to LearnStuff.com.

Also, it’s worth noting that the graphic reflects numbers from the US. So, the numbers in Canada would likely be a bit different, but I think the trend is similar.

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Morgentaler Decision — 25th Anniversary

Hey friends! Here’s a really cool-looking event celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Morgentaler decision. See below for more info:

Celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the Morgentaler Decision!
The Women’s Health Clinic is hosting an event on Monday, January 28th.
Speakers, music and light refreshments. A come-and-go from 5:30-8pm, with a short program beginning at 6:15pm. Space is limited, so email jticknor@womenshealthclinic.org to RSVP. Location of the event will be sent to you then. Bring your noisemakers!

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