We need your support for gender equality more than ever!

View this email in your browser ([link removed])
[link removed]
Dear friend,


The challenges faced by women and girls remain at the forefront of LEAF’s work. Thank you for your support - especially during this time! COVID-19 has highlighted the vulnerabilities that women and girls face and the importance of continuing to advocate for their rights.

Today marks #GivingTuesdayNow, a global day of giving taking place as an emergency response to the unprecedented need caused by the pandemic. Around the world, and here in Canada, COVID-19 has brought long-existing inequalities into sharp focus, including the feminization of poverty.

Many women, particularly young women, women of colour, Indigenous women, and women with disabilities, have seen their living situations significantly worsen during the pandemic. Women are disproportionately employed in low-wage, part-time, and precarious jobs. Between February and March, 1.8 million women lost their jobs or the majority of their hours as non-essential businesses closed. Other women deemed ‘essential’ continue to work, often on the frontlines where they are at greater risk of exposure to COVID-19.

For decades, LEAF has been advocating to address substantive inequality related to gender, race, and (dis)ability that have contributed to feminization of poverty. In the past year alone, this issue has been the focus of our proposed interventions in three cases:

Colucci v Colucci
which focuses on retroactive child support payments, so that court decisions take into account the economic disadvantages faced by women, particularly those raising children in lone parent families.

Fraser v Canada
(Attorney General)
arguing that pensions should take into account the gendered reality of care giving obligations for women, so that they can be given full access to pensions.

Jackson Estate v Young
to highlight women’s inability to access support and family property upon the death of a common-law spouse.

As LEAF continues to bring the issues of increasing poverty and marginalization forward, we need your support to help women, here in Canada, who are being uniquely harmed during the pandemic.

Please give today, ([link removed]) so that we can make sure there is a strong voice protecting the rights of women and girls that cannot be ignored.

Your donation this #GivingTuesdayNow will help us keep up the fight for the women who are carrying the burden of COVID-19.

Thank you for your support!
DONATE NOW ([link removed])

Sincerely,

Megan Cameron,
Fund Development Manager

============================================================
** [link removed] ([link removed])
** [link removed] ([link removed])
** www.leaf.ca ([link removed])
Copyright © 2020 Women's Legal Education and Action Fund, All rights reserved.
You are a contact for LEAF.

Our mailing address is:
Women's Legal Education and Action Fund
180 Dundas Street West
Suite 1420
Toronto, ON M5G 1Z8
Canada
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
.