About this Project

Putting Women in the Picture: Building Equitable Access to Ontario’s Labour Market is a three-year project to assess the impact of labour policy changes on women's employment and training programs.

The end goal of this project is to ensure that all women in Ontario have the tools they need to improve their employment skills, secure meaningful work, and make substantive contributions to their families, communities, and the economy.

What We Will Do

This project will look specifically at the Labour Market Development Agreement (LMDA) and the Labour Market Partnership Agreement (LMPA). These two recently signed agreements between Canada and Ontario will affect the design and delivery of programs that train and help people find employment. (Read more on the LMDA and LMPA.)

With this project, ACTEW will

• encourage greater awareness of the need for gender equity to be integrated into the development, implementation, and evaluation of a Canada-Ontario LMDA, and in all policy development;
  
  
• monitor and document the longitudinal effect of the Canada-Ontario LMDA on women’s training programs, and women’s access to training and employment services, in communities across Ontario;
  
  
• strengthen the capacity of women’s training providers to contribute to policy dialogue and public education about women’s equitable access to training and employment services; and
  
  
• undertake public educational activities about the impact of policy change on women’s training and employment programs and services in Ontario and other provinces.

How We Will Do It

Working with our partners, ACTEW will coordinate and provide updates, analysis, strategies and more through these three communication vehicles:

• Our monthly policy e-bulletin, In Focus examines the effects and implications of policy on specific employment concerns for women;
  
  
• Twice weekly The ACTEW Blog serves up commentary on Ontario employment and training issues; and
  
  
• This web site stockpiles resources and tools, such as our fact sheets on Women's Employment.

ACTEW will also coordinate frequent regional meetings, provide briefing materials, and compile information campaign resources and case studies from key communities about women’s programs pre- and post-LMDA/LMPA.

Who We Will Do It With

You.

To make sure each piece reflects your experience as a job-seeker, service provider or policy stakeholder in Ontario, check out the ways you can get involved:

• Attend a meeting in your region or host one with us
  
  
• Showcase a service or best practice from your agency
  
  
• Read Patching It Together, our Pre-LMDA survey of employment and training services in Ontario. Does this picture fit your experience as a service provider?
  
  
• Tell us about your experience of using employment or training services in your community
  
  
• Share your opinion on The ACTEW Blog

More formally, ACTEW collaborates closely with many other community partners.

• We are guided by our community advisory committee. This committee consists of service providers, researchers, women's health advocates, and individual job-seekers who are using employment and training services.
  
  
• We call on the local expertise and experience of our 70 member organizations.
  
  
• We collaborate with representatives from the Labour Training and Adjustment Boards of the province.
  
  
• Representatives from the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities join us in presenting LMDA/LMPA information to local community meetings.

This project is funded by Status of Women Canada.