Event Date: March 21, 2017 - 11:30am to 1:00pm
Location: FSS 5028, 120 University Private

Presented by CIPS 

Gender equality and women’s empowerment is a proven precondition for advancing socioeconomic development, reducing poverty, and improving the health not just of women but also of entire populations. Empowered women and girls contribute to the prosperity and productivity of their families and communities while increasing prospects for future generations.

The empowerment of women must take many forms, including economic empowerment. This means equal education and opportunities to realize the potential of women with equal prospects for financial independence and sharing equality in the distribution of power and influence. However economic inequality is perpetuated by women’s lack of access to property ownership, credit, training, and employment.

The panel discussion will include a brief presentation to showcase different innovative economic empowerment models and practices, with discussions about the contribution of women’s economic empowerment towards community building and fostering political impacts. A question and answer period will follow.

Panellists:

Beth Woroniuk (moderator) has worked on women’s rights issues for over 25 years as an advocate, advisor, analyst, and consultant. Her areas of interest include issues related to women’s rights/gender and dimensions of peacebuilding/conflict/ humanitarian assistance. She has worked with a wide range of organizations; government, multilateral, United Nations and small NGOs. A common thread in her work has been supporting efforts to more effectively address women’s rights and gender inequalities in policies and programming initiatives. Beth has accompanied organizational change processes, developed capacity building initiatives, researched and designed tools, assessed organizational capacity, encouraged participatory approaches, provided technical assistance and carried out evaluations.

Jennifer Lonergan is the founder of Artistri Sud, which works to empower women artisans in developing countries to fight poverty and build better lives by capitalizing on their existing craft skills and cultural assets. Artistri Sud teaches local entrepreneurs the business building skills to increase sales through product innovation and learning how to tap in to new markets.  

Rebecca Tiessen joined the School of International Development and Global Studies at the University of Ottawa in July 2013. Previously, she taught at Dalhousie University (1999-2007) and the Royal Military College of Canada where she was the Canada Research Chair in Global Studies (2007-2013). Her research interests include gender and development and the role of Canada and Canadians in the world. Specifically, her work has focused on gender inequality in the Global South, human security, Canadian foreign aid policy, global citizenship, and youth volunteer abroad programs. 

Alexandra Lamont is the deputy director of Economic Growth and International Financial Institutions. Her work with Global Affairs Canada includes stimulating sustainable economic development and promoting gender equality.