PRINTABLE VERSION
July 27, 2009
Attn: CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)
Toronto, ON
RE: Impact of Global Financial Crisis on Sexual Violence and Women in Ontario
Dear Canadian Broadcasting Corporation,
The Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres (OCRCC) works toward the prevention and eradication of sexual assault. The Coalition recognizes that violence against women is one of the strongest indicators of prevailing societal attitudes towards women. As you are likely aware our membership comprises sexual assault centres from across Ontario, offering counselling, information and support services to survivors of sexual violence, including childhood sexual abuse and incest.
OCRCC is writing in response to your query regarding the recent global financial crisis and its impact on Ontario women, most specifically the impact this recession has had upon issues concerning sexual violence affecting women in Ontario.
We would like to thank you for your interest in the issue of sexual violence and women in Ontario. We acknowledge your recognition of the fact that while financial and social marginalization affects all populations in some way, it affects women consistently − and in times of financial crisis, indeed affects women disproportionately, harder, and in more complex ways.
In Ontario, and even in times of economic ease, women make up the majority within all groups that experience poverty. Although women in Ontario earn the highest incomes among women in Canada, in 2003 the average incomes for all women earners in Ontario reached just 60% of their male counterparts.
Amongst marginalized groups −Aboriginal people, those with disabilities, people of colour, new Canadians, seniors and youth − female members are consistently statistically the poorest. One-parent led families also represent Ontario’s poor, and the majority of these are led by women: in Ontario, the average female-led lone parent family was living $9,400 below the poverty line even before the Canadian recession hit .
What does this have to do with sexual violence against women?
There is a statistical correlation between low income and a woman’s vulnerability to violence. Low income traps youth in sexually abusive homes, adult women in domestic violence situations, and women of all ages in workplaces where sexual and racial harassment occur. It reduces women’s practical options for fleeing abusive or physically unsafe environments, therein exposing them more consistently to escalating situations of sexual harassment, sexual assault and physical abuse. Here in Ontario, minimum wage and social assistance rates are so low that women in abusive relationships are literally forced to choose between a life of poverty and violence. Women who are poor are also more likely to be sexually exploited, trafficked or forced into prostitution.
For women additionally marginalized by race, ability, sexual orientation or age, poverty creates more complex problems. Consider, for example, the following theoretical situations:
• Anne has a physical disability and lives in a wheelchair-accessible supportive housing building, where she is being sexually abused by an attendant. The attendant is employed by the housing complex. Anne considered leaving the building, but would then lose her subsidized housing unit. Women with disabilities earn an average of $5000 less per year than other women in Ontario, and almost $10,000 less than men with disabilities. In one Ontario region, the wait for a single bedroom unit in subsidized housing is 3-9 years .
• Mutup is a woman of color and lives in a highrise apartment building. Her husband, who earns most of the family income, was recently arrested for physically and sexually assaulting her. Mutup can work as long as her kids are in school, but her youngest son has chronic asthma, and sometimes the school calls to tell her he is ill. As a consequence, her employer feels she is unreliable and does not schedule her for many shifts. Despite the no-contact order between them, her husband routinely calls and pleads with her to reconcile. Mutup is struggling to make ends meet. She fears her husband, but she is considering allowing him home. Women of colour earn $3000 less than other women in Canada and $9000 less than men of colour .
• Ashma is working in Canada as a live-in caregiver for a well-to-do family on a temporary work permit. Her employer frequently makes sexual remarks when they are alone together. On one occasion, he invited her to touch him. He told her that if she told anyone, they would never believe her over him. It is estimated that over 80% of women who are sexually assaulted do not report due to humiliation or fear of re-victimization in the legal process. For women of colour, that fear is worsened by the experience of racism.
Women’s fears reflect reality. As survivor advocates, we know that women affected by sexual violence regularly face financial and systemic barriers that keep them isolated in abusive situations. Last, economic stress within families and workplaces likely increases a woman’s risk for experiencing violence, as the disillusionment and frustration felt by those around her takes a toll: in cases reported to police, 80% of sexual assault survivors indeed knew their abusers, either as a friend, acquaintance, employer, family member or intimate partner .
Does Canada’s economic situation reflect in our centres’ statistics? There is not a simple answer. In Halton region, for example, Public Education Coordinator Zehra Haffajee reports that the Sexual Assault and Violence Intervention Services of Halton (SAVIS) has seen an increase in the number of individuals currently seeking services compared to last year. From January – June 2008, SAVIS received 118 calls on its 24 hour crisis line, compared to 201 for 2009. Those accessing counselling services increased from 273 in 2008 to 429 in 2009 during the same period. This being said, Haffajee cautions, it would be inaccurate to assume that an increase in service use is solely due to the economic downfall in Canada. Multiple factors play a role in increasing a woman’s risk for sexual violence.
From an Ontario-wide perspective, OCRCC affirms this is most certainly true. Only 6-8% of sexual assaults are actually reported to the police and over 90% of sexual assault survivors do not seek support from the criminal justice system at all . For many realistic reasons, including those mentioned above, many women do not reach out for support – to police, to sexual assault centres, to friends or family, even − immediately after a violent episode. And should a woman experiencing sexual violence find herself with serious financial problems, unemployment, lack of transportation or lack of sustainable housing, it may be that she simply cannot afford to prioritize her emotional needs – and she may never reach out to our sexual assault centres at all.
We do not doubt that the economic downturn has impacted women, abuse survivors especially, in some ways. Anecdotally, sexual assault centres do report that within the current financial recession, women accessing support are presenting more complex cases related to sexual victimization. In addition, centres continue to respond to the practical needs of clients and their families wherever possible – for example, by providing grocery store vouchers or bus tickets to women accessing counselling services, or by operating small community-based food banks.
We commend CBC for its interest in the recent global financial crisis and its impact on Ontario women, most specifically women at-risk of or experiencing sexual violence. The OCRCC believes that the sexual violation of women and girls is a serious problem in Ontario even in the best of economic times. Further, we believe that the best way to prevent sexual assault is to work with others to change a society that presently condones sexual assault and other forms of violence against women.
Sincerely,
Nicole Pietsch,
OCRCC Coordinator
c.c. Jacqueline Benn-John, OCRCC President
Deb Matthews, Minister Responsible for Women’s Issues