Committees

Women at the crossroads of oppression: Combatting sexual assault and increased vulnerability

Certain groups of women, often marginalized, find themselves at the crossroads of more than one system of oppression. These heterogeneous groups, representing different realities, can include women from immigrant and refugee populations, racialized and First Nations women, women living with disability, living in poverty, elderly women and women dealing with issues of gender and sexual diversity. CALACS is especially committed to the inclusion of such populations, since these realities are often associated with a greater risk of sexual violence, as well as with significant obstacles to reporting.

For example, a woman living with disability or in poverty, who is financially insecure or dependent on others for care, can be more vulnerable to sexual assault or exploitation. Similarly, a woman from an immigrant population that doesn’t speak French or English, or a woman whose mobility is challenged, will have more difficulty finding the help she needs.

Even when we don’t consider such invisible realities, these sectors of the population remain under-represented in our service requests and our fields of activity. This is why adequate promotion and communication and increased accessibility within the organization are necessary, to ensure that all women, regardless of their context, have access to the help and support that they need.

Inclusive practices: CALACS and its commitment to diversity and accessibility

For many years, CALACS has put the notion of inclusion at the heart of its practices. Working mainly with women, inclusion means above all the acknowledgement of diversity in their realities. Among the most vulnerable groups: women living with a disability, women from immigrant communities, and lesbians, as well as other groups who are confronted with particular forms of oppression. This oppression not only increases their vulnerability to sexual violence but also means that access to resources adapted to their situation will be more difficult.

Our goal is to make all women feel welcome in our services and in the opportunities for participation. This involves the creation of a safe and inclusive space, where the diversity of different realities and oppressions that women experience is recognized and not made invisible. For this, we have implemented different strategies for inclusion.

Notably, there actions include:

• Staff training regarding diverse realities for women (disability, immigrant populations, lesbians etc.).
• Ensuring our spaces are 100% accessible to all, notably adapting them for people with limited mobility.
• Providing interpreters to help overcome language barriers.
• Developing tools for education and promotion in many languages, to reach a wider audience.
• Develop partnerships with groups of allies to reach groups of women who experience different forms of oppression.

What’s more, to ensure our inclusive practices, we welcome a broad variety of life experiences in our workshops, café-meetings and training sessions. This includes body and age diversity, as well as sexual orientation and ethnocultural heritage in our training and promotional materials. We are also committed to including women from marginalized groups on our board of directors.

This is the way that CALACS makes inclusion a part of all its activities, and favours a reflexive approach, since the process is constantly evolving.