August 13, 1998
(Development and Rural Renewal)

Gender equity on regional economic development boards

Beaton Tulk, Minister of Development and Rural Renewal, says he is encouraged by the fact that the Provincial Advisory Council on the Status of Women is promoting more participation of women in regional economic development boards. The advisory council recently expressed concern that less than one-third of the positions on the boards as a whole are held by women and this needs to be addressed to ensure the views of women are taken fully into account in regional economic development throughout the province.

"These boards are playing an important role in developing sustainable economic growth in this province and the participation of women is essential to this process. While positive efforts have been made to date to involve women in regional economic development, we need to make a stronger collective effort at the community level to encourage greater participation of women," says Minister Tulk. He noted that the women who are already involved in the REDB process provide excellent role models for others who want to become involved and stated that the significant contribution already being made by women should not be forgotten.

"It should also be remembered that the regional economic development boards are autonomous organizations, not government appointed agencies. This process cannot be driven by government, it has to be driven by the communities themselves," said Tulk. The minister pointed out that one of the themes of the report of the Task Force on Community Economic Development, which was the result of extensive province-wide public consultations, was that this process should be community driven as opposed to being imposed by government in a top-down fashion. The minister also noted that the report supported the principle of gender equity within the structure of the REDBs.

Tulk explained that when communities were determining the structure of the regional economic development boards, it was necessary to ensure an adequate number of women were at the table. Some boards built seats for women's organizations explicitly into their structure. Others felt confident that encouragement of women candidates for board positions would be adequate.

The minister noted that government, primarily through the Department of Development and Rural Renewal, has taken direct action to support the establishment of women's economic development networks by providing advice and assistance on gender equity as requested by REDBs. The department and the Women's Policy Office developed a handbook to help boards better understand the issue of gender equity and respond to the challenge of ensuring the full participation of women in regional economic development.

Another example of the Department of Development and Rural Renewal's efforts to involve women in community economic development has been the department's financial support of the Newfoundland and Labrador Organization for Women Entrepreneurs (NLOWE) in fulfilling their mission to support women's contribution to growth in business and community economic development generally.

"Increasing women's involvement in regional economic development will present new opportunities and approaches for economic renewal and it is something which we have to work on cooperatively. I would encourage representatives from the Provincial Advisory Council on the Status of Women to approach the boards and work with them to help increase the number of women involved," says Minister Tulk. The minister noted that while a number of REDBs have strong representation by women, he felt it was important to have a more appropriate balance of men and women on all boards and he would be pleased to work with all relevant parties to achieve this objective.

Contact: Scott Reid, Communications, (709) 729-4570.

1998 08 13               3:55 p.m.