Session: N7 - Roundtable: Feminist Intersectional Ways Forward in Response to Changing Public Services

Date: Jun 1, 2016 | Time: 10:30am to 12:00pm | Location: Science Theatres 127

Joint Session / Séance conjointe: with/avec CSA, CASWE, CAWLS

Chair/Présidente: Leah Levac (University of Guelph)

Participants & Authors/Auteurs:

Leah Levac (University of Guelph)

Susan Braedley (Carleton University)

Teresa Healy (School for International Training Graduate Institute)

Marion Pollack (Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women)

Sarah Baker (Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women)

The roundtable will: (1) present a range of findings from research undertaken as part of the feminist intersectional Changing Public Services Research Network (CPSRN), and (2) host an open dialogue about the next phase of the work of the CPRSN. Since 2013, the CPSRN – a collaboration of academic, union, and community organization partners – has been studying diverse women’s experiences with changing public services. One of the unique contributions of the CPSRN is its adoption of a feminist intersectional and community engaged approach, which situates the work at the nexus of research and action (Ochocka & Janzen, 2014), and attends to the ways in which social relations are formed and shaped within a dynamic set of power-laden structures (see for example Dhamoon, 2011; Walby, 2012). Research to date has included a systematic scoping review of the impacts of changing public services for women, a mixed-methods study focused on understanding precarious public sector work (Cowper-Smith, Levac, & Baker, forthcoming), and four community-based projects highlighting the complexity of impacts of changing public services at the local level. After reviewing the key findings emerging from the above-noted research, we will turn our attention to a more general discussion about the CPSRN’s next phase. Roundtable participants will discuss possible options for future foci, including ways to optimize the integration of feminist intersectional considerations into broader debates about public service changes and their consequences. Those interested in future collaborations related to the work of the CPSRN are encouraged to attend.