York University

Purpose

This 19-month project will support a feminist response and recovery from the current impacts of COVID-19 through systemic change. Working with community partners representing precarious status women, frontline workers and Indigenous women, York University will examine how different groups of status-insecure women envision and enact local, collaborative models of self-determination to enhance their economic and physical well-being. They will conduct policy consultation workshops on labour and immigration law and policy, as well as gender-based violence. Policy briefs will be developed and adapted for the general public, media, and governments; a strategy grounded in Indigenous practices will be devised to address violence against Indigenous women and girls; and the project’s policy strategies will be showcased in a one-day symposium. In addition, York University will create a digital archive of video interviews documenting precarious status women’s pandemic experiences and vision for a just recovery. At the end of the project, the organization will have contributed to addressing systemic barriers by advancing inclusive policies and practices, increasing networks and collaboration to accelerate systemic change, supporting positive distribution of authority, voices, and decision-making power, and addressing persistent harmful gender norms and attitudes. This project will bring together experts from York University with community organizations serving Indigenous and precarious status migrant women. Partner organizations, researchers and students will collaborate to build the digital archive through conducting interviews and participating in focus groups to examine how status insecurity affects migrant and Indigenous women in the context of the pandemic. The interdisciplinary and multi-sectoral team will also contribute to policy consultation workshops to support the development of visions and policy recommendations for a just response to COVID impacts.