Dear Editor:
RE: Gender gaffes, Dec. 20.
For the writer who was bewildered by (heavily edited) comments made by our Prime Minister at a conference on women’s issues, I may be able to help you.
Regarding the statement about construction workers, Trudeau was referring to the situations faced by isolated communities when mining or logging operations, or oil patch camps, are set up in close proximity to them. Whether the terror tactics of violence and rape used to drive indigenous people off resource rich land coveted by companies in, for instance, South and Central America (witness particularly Canadian mining companies) or closer to home, the sexual exploitation which naturally occurs when large groups of mostly male workers, far from home and cities, look for something to entertain themselves in their off hours.
As to Trudeau’s comments about women in business, NGOs long ago discovered that the old saw about teaching a man to fish in order to feed himself had only limited effect. On the other hand, they found that to get the biggest bang for their buck, giving a mother a small loan and some business training was amazingly successful – possibly the only incidence of trickle down theory actually working. These women overwhelmingly used their income to provide better housing, improved nutrition and education for their families, thus benefiting the community as a whole.
Understand that I am not suggesting the Conservative Party supports sexual violence and exploitation or that they are opposed to poor women supporting themselves and their children. They’re politicians; they saw an opportunity to pander to a demographic by winding up their supporters so they took it. And it worked, didn’t it?
Karen Smart,
Wallenstein
