2) ACTION: COMPLETE BY APRIL 28, 2022.
Use this letter🧵as a template.
You can copy/amend/add to/use as is!
Email to: EDSC.LEE-EEA.ESDC@labour-travail.gc.ca
To Whom It May Concern:
With regard to your recent EDSC post on an active federal consultation.../3
3) regarding Canada’s Employment Equity Act, I am writing with extreme concern about the possible redefinition of an identified group within your policy framework: that of the category of ‘Women.’
..../4
4) There must be NO tinkering with the science and definition of the word ‘woman’: it is 'An Adult Human Female.' No ‘update’ or ‘modernization required, thanks.
.../5
5)Males who wish to self-identify as ‘women’ should not act as category qualifiers or definition changers, as part of the female category or as a sub-category. 'Women' are grouped by our sex, & should not be considered a ‘gender identity’ or a sub-group within our own category./6
6) You may need a new category for those who self-identify.
HOWEVER, you CANNOT alter or dispense with 'SEX' as the female marker for women. That would be dishonest, anti-scientific and go against our sex-based rights, still protected under the Canadian Human Rights Act.../7
7) That would be illiberal in every sense of the word.
In other words, any movement to replace the category of ‘sex’ for employment equity purposes, or place the word 'Women' or redefine that word under another category such as ‘gender,’ is invalidating for us, and unlawful.../8
8) Women as a sex class—regardless of ethnicity, race and class--are already at a disadvantage with lack of real affirmative actions, when it comes to employment, equity and diversity. You must not muddy the waters by including natal males in our ‘category.’.../10
9) Further, changing definitions and designations in this way will have an immediate deleterious effect in other areas: in spaces such as the pay equity act, in sports, in the correction system, and wherever women have struggled to gain equity, security, safety or privacy.../10
🇨🇦 Fed gov re: Employment Equity Act - to redefine WOMAN. Respond before April 28. canada.ca/en/employment-…
What is a woman? Is it a sex category? A social status? A personal identity? A federal government task force is examining this question as part of a review of the Employment Equity Act and its supporting programs. 1
The Task Force will consider if the definition “woman” should be “updated and modernized” or new employment equity groups added to reflect the needs of LGBTQ2+ stakeholders. 2