Harassment, Sexual Harassment and Provincial Legislatures – A comparison of policy approaches in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador

• Main Author: Coltman, Linda
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Scholarship at UWindsor 2020
• Subjects: Newfoundland; Collier
• Online Access: https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/uwilldiscover/2020/online/5

In keeping with the Building Viable, Healthy and Safe Communities grand challenge, this presentation will attempt to explain the transfer of learning journey of comparative qualitative policy analysis, policy transfer and learning and feminist policy analysis through an exploration of 2014 and 2015 Canadian federal policies noting how such have proven to be relevant with respect to the 2016 and 2019 provincial policies of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador. Specifically, in keeping with the grand challenge theme, discussion will provide an explanation and exploration of research conducted pertaining to sexual harassment and sexism in the Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador legislatures. Research questions guided an examination of the origins of the legislature-specific sexual harassment policies in each province; what (if anything) was learned from previous policy ‘failures’ and/or ‘successes’?; and what shortcomings remain in both cases. Said policy comparison took its inspiration from the 2018 federal lessons of Collier and Raney and undertook an in-depth content comparison of provincial legislative policies based on influences of: rape myths; party or independent investigation; type of sexual harassment training; public disclosure of perpetrators; policy review; parliamentary privilege protection; culture change; and other policy inputs - all of which will be explained as to their importance and prominence connected to how we can seek to understand socio-political aspects in order to advance knowledge about the lives of women working within Canadian legislatures.