Top Issues

We asked women to tell us

  • The most significant issues that need to be addressed to improve the lives of women in New Brunswick as a group.
  • The most significant problems they faced in their own lives as women in New Brunswick in the past 12 months.
The same top 5 issues emerged in response to both questions.
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Health

Within the issue of health, three main sub issues emerged: accessing mental health supports and services, accessing reproductive healthcare, and meeting basic healthcare needs.

Issues related to healthcare were also the most common answers to questions on what one thing could make the lives of New Brunswick women easier and what one thing could make participants’ own lives easier.

Of all respondents, 40% indicated that they were living with a mental health challenge and/or a physical disability. Of those, 74% said they were living with a mental health challenge, 9% were living with a physical disability, and 17% with both.

Of all respondents
40%Indicated living with a mental health challenge and/or physical disability
Of the 40% above
  • 74%Mental Health Challenge
  • 9%Physical Disability
  • 17%Living with Both

Here are stories women shared about health issues in their own lives:

"Feeling isolated in dealing with mental and physical health issues as there is a perception that I will be less capable as a mother and as an employee."

"As a young woman I had been receiving annual Pap test with my female doctor while out of the province for University. When I came back to New Brunswick and asked for my male family doctor for my regular Pap I was told to find a clinic / go elsewhere. That was two years ago., I have yet to have a follow up. There was no support nor guidance provided."

"I can’t find work because I have epilepsy and depression. I can’t drive because of my seizures. I can’t pay for child care because I don’t have a job... you can see the vicious cycle."

What is one thing women would change to improve the situation?
What women said government doesn’t understand about this issue in New Brunswick:
What is one thing women would change to improve the situation?
"

  • "...What I hear a lot about is mental health issues like anxiety and depression which seems to affect a lot of women! I wish there were more supports in place for women experiencing this - so you could talk it out and be reassured that you aren't crazy, and know how to cope. Again - there are likely resources like this available in cities, but how do you reach out to the rural communities and offer them the same opportunities?"

  • "Health care is the primary area for improvement - for example, wait times for ultrasounds are unacceptably long. The number of women without family physicians is unacceptably wrong."

  • "Regional Women's health services centres, particularly in more remote and rural sections of the province."

  • "Better appreciation of health issues facing women--access to care, respect for the patient's perspective, less paternalistic approach."

  • "Better access to health care, especially OBGYN access and abortion access."

What women said government doesn’t understand about this issue in New Brunswick:
"

  • "Many people don't have access to a family doctor and rely on the ER or walk-in clinics. This is a poor way to service health care and makes access to simple things, like birth control or chronic health meds, more difficult than it should be and Im sure costs the system more in the long run."

  • "Just to get an appointment with my family doctor is difficult... a minimum 4-6 week wait to get in. When dealing with depression that’s a long wait to see the dr to her help."

  • "We focus too much on healing and not enough on prevention. It would cost less to government and women would be in better physical and mental health." *

  • "I am currently struggling to access culturally sensitive mental health services off reserve while attending school... my people are struggling, I am struggling!"

  • "Do you know how hard it is to get a family doctor? I waited 4 years to get one before I could finally start talking about mental health issues that the walk in clinics didnt want to hear"

  • "How important reproductive health care is. How important regular pap tests and sensitive abortion services are."

Economic Security & Employment

Women who discussed economic security and employment as a top issue did so in four main ways:

  • 31%talked about poverty and meeting basic needs
  • 26%specifically named pay equity
  • 25%brought up employment-related concerns
  • 18%described general concerns about wages, income, and financial security

Here are stories women shared regarding economic security and employment in their own lives:

"Sometimes we can’t afford groceries for the month. Sometimes I literally eat frosting for a meal because I need some sort of calories to function."

"It is a struggle to meet my needs and those of my family on our income. It seems that unless we are working more and more hours, we don't have enough to make ends meet, let alone save for our children's education or our retirement."

"Because I am disabled and can’t work, I am limited to living on CPP disability, which pays me $555 per month. My rent is $700. I am unable to access help."

What is one thing women would change to improve the situation?
What women said government doesn’t understand about this issue in New Brunswick:
What is one thing women would change to improve the situation?
"

  • "Employment opportunities that provide real, liveable wage. This is hampered by basic education challenges that keep women (and all New Brunswickers) from obtaining well paying jobs."

  • "An employee culture adopts a living wage mentality so that women can support themselves and their children."

  • "Modifying work hours. Better flexibility. Sick or family days." *

What women said government doesn’t understand about this issue in New Brunswick:
"

  • "I feel the government (all, not just this one) does not fully appreciate that most community services function on the backs of under-paid women... as government off-loads more and more work onto non- profit services, women are increasingly feeling the effects, including physical and mental health, issues around poverty and childcare, and more."

  • "The working poor who are comprised disproportionately of single women/mothers lack adequate resources to overcome their circumstances. When one spends every waking moment simply trying to "get by" there is not a lot of time left to grow or improve your circumstances."

  • "I believe government should demand pay equity for all workers in NB. Their fear of adding costs to businesses is not justified because better paid women will contribute more to society, will have better housing and be healthier." *

  • "Government does not recognize the value of care-giving. Child care workers, women's shelter workers, in-home support providers, personal care workers etc. are not paid consistent with the work they do."

  • "The workplace structures that exist don't reflect the needs of modern families and childcare supports aren't flexible enough to meet our needs."

  • "Programs for immigrant women deal only with language issues and are addressed towards low educated jobs. And definitely do not help immigrant women in rural areas. We re forgotten."

Accessing & Providing Care

When women described accessing and providing care as a top issue, the following key areas emerged:

  • Access to affordable and quality child care
    (as well as the impacts this has on economic security, employment and career trajectories, and health)

  • Support for parents
    (including financial, legal, and childcare support)

  • Caregiving for family members or friends
    (and the challenges related to work-life balance)

Here are stories women shared regarding access to and provision of care in their own lives:

"I’m expected to be caring and nurturing, which is not a problem, but it gets very draining when working full time, taking care of the house and helping a sick parent."

"It is oppression of woman. She must choose to work hard all week away from her baby and then spend 90% of that pay check on child care. There is almost no point when you take in travel time and cost."

"My mother is showing signs of dementia and the worries have increased, soon she will not be able to be alone and I cannot quit my job to take care of her so everything is up in the air."

What is one thing women would change to improve the situation?
What women said government doesn’t understand about this issue in New Brunswick:
What is one thing women would change to improve the situation?
"

  • "Reliable and affordable (or ideally free) childcare would be a huge step towards empowering women to make the best choices for themselves and their families in terms of pursuing a career, or alleviating the significant amount of unpaid household labour they perform regularly."

  • "My disabled husband on the reserve doesn’t qualify for a lot of help since provincial programs don’t apply on the reserve and therefore I, As his wife, have to do the majority of the unpaid care work. We live below poverty line. I can’t leave reserve cos then we lose our housing."

  • "Removing barriers that prevent women's participation in the labour force (such as access to reliable, affordable and flexible child care) would go a long way to getting women out of low- skilled, low-paid employment."

What women said government doesn’t understand about this issue in New Brunswick:
"

  • "Authorities seem to ignore the huge responsibilities that adult women face by having to take care of their aging parents. This requires time, having to travel on a regular basis..I feel caught between my children and the increasing needs of my parents...it doesn’t make sense to not have a geriatric multi-disciplinary team in rural regions where there is a higher aging population. Adding to this that, generally, women live longer than men. They need those services otherwise they are at the mercy of a health system that doesn’t understand them."

  • "...lack of support for female caregivers within the system, and the poor pay within the home care services system (the majority of their employees are women.) I have watched my grandmother, mother and friends struggle through exhaustion and frustration because they are the primary caregiver for a ill or disabled family member - in fact, my mother is going through this experience right now."

Safety & Violence

Click here for an info sheet with additional data and stories from women on this issue.

Of women who identified safety and violence as a top issue:

  • 56%Had general concerns about violence
  • 26%Specifically identified sexual violence
  • 14%Specifically identified intimate partner violence
  • 4%Had concerns about violence in the workplace

Here are stories women shared regarding safety and violence in their own lives:

"Sexual harassment in the workplace affects most women I know. It’s a culture in NB that needs to change."

"I have been sexually assaulted and harassed numerous times. Every time the response of most people is that it was my fault or he didn’t mean any harm."

"I work in a predominantly male environment... for 15 years, and still feel like a piece of meat some days."

What is one thing women would change to improve the situation?
What women said government doesn’t understand about this issue in New Brunswick:
What is one thing women would change to improve the situation?
"

  • "There really is no "KNOWN" place for women to go to get answers about what is just and fair in their work environment. If there is such an agency it needs to be out there and stated CLEARLY what it is for."

  • "Make it easier for them to report sexual harassment or abuse with a system that is built to help them and not accuse them."

  • "Educat[e] our women, girls, men and boys from an early age about consent, respect, sex, options."

What women said government doesn’t understand about this issue in New Brunswick:
"

  • "I strongly feel the government does not fully grasp the long term effects on women in children that domestic violence leaves behind. They overlook/ignore existing research on the nature and/or scope of the supports needed to re-group, recover & rebuild after extraditing oneself from such dichotomies."

  • "Education on consent, sexual harassement, gender equity, cyber bullying and healthy relationships should be mandatory at elementary and secondary education levels."

  • "Stalking /harassment , should not have to escalate before something is done before hand . Accountability and prevention should come in sooner."

  • "How pervasive patriarchy and discrimination is in NB and how often violence against women is minimized or justified."

  • "Appropriate and adequate resources for victims of violence and a poor response from the Justice System in terms of sentences for offenders."

Gender Inequality & Discrimination

When asked if they’d experienced sexism or discrimination in the last 12 months, 67% of participants to who answered the question said yes.

Here are stories women shared regarding inequality issues in their own lives:

"I am an Indigenous woman. This is literally my daily life. And you may think that I am being dramatic, which really sucks because I feel like that is sexist in and of itself... I cannot tell you how many instances of sexist/racist bullshit I encounter. And what is worst, is that probably 80 of the time, the people who are being sexist and/or racist, have no intention of being so whatsoever. It is just so ingrained and we are all so ignorant."

"I feel like I see it most often in the workplace. It's nothing big and obvious either which i feel is even more frustrating. It typically is like no one can hear me speak or when I do I immediately get my idea shot down and explained to why it's wrong. The worst is when someone is asking for ideas and I come up with one, no one acknowledges it and 2 minutes later a guy will say the exact same thing and he's the hero."

"People ask ignorant questions about what makes me qualified to do my job because I'm not Canadian, or talk down to me and assume my English is not good enough to understand them. Boss questions whether I am qualified to do something I've done many times before. It's a mix of race, age and gender, but constant underestimation."

What is one thing women would change to improve the situation?
What women said government doesn’t understand about this issue in New Brunswick:
What is one thing women would change to improve the situation?
"

  • "Empowerment and education of girls and teens about their abilities, rights, protecting themselves, opportunities, and debunking myths about girls."

  • "I would change the culture of support for women. Build them up to succeed instead of having so many barriers along the way."

  • "Continue to educate men about being sensitive to women's issues."

What women said government doesn’t understand about this issue in New Brunswick:
"

  • "Waiting for a woman to make a complaint about discrimination is not enough, as there is a real fear of being labelled "crazy" "a problem" or a "bitch". The government must take an active approach to prevent this in the workplace."

  • "In this community, as a woman and an immigrant, you have to prove yourself twice over. Is she good enough? Does she understand what I am saying? There is that initial doubt but it can also be constant."

  • "Every day is precarious, wondering when the next insult, unwanted physical contact, or sexist comment will happen, even for a relatively privileged professional."

  • "Discrimination toward visible minorities." *

* This quote was submitted in French and has been translated.