"Alright, Now What?" is a podcast from the Canadian Women’s Foundation. On the first Friday of every month, CKUT will air one new episode and two episodes from the archives where the CWF's experts and partners put an intersectional feminist lens on one topic or story we’ve all been hearing about … the issues and stories that just seem to keep resurfacing and make you wonder, “What’s this about?”, “Why is this still happening?”, and “How is it possible we haven’t fixed this yet?” They explore the systemic roots of these things and the strategies for change that will move us closer to the goal of gender justice.

Every 4th Friday of the month, 11am - Noon (EST)

October 18, 2024: Three episodes: Endometriosis and Misogyny | Dementia and Gender | Menopause

The Canadian Women’s Foundation, in partnership with CKUT, is pleased to join you once a month to share episodes of our podcast, Alright, Now What. Gender equality and justice where we live, work, learn, and play is the goal – and it makes life better for everyone. Join our host Andrea Gunraj, of the Canadian Women’s Foundation, as she connects with insightful people and explores what it’ll take to get there in Canada.

Today’s first episode: Endometriosis and Misogyny With Tracey Lindeman, author of BLEED: Destroying Myths and Misogyny in Endometriosis Care. (17:59)

The link between discrimination and your health is undeniable. The World Health Organization describes social determinants of health as “non-medical factors that influence health outcomes”, the “conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life.”

Discrimination based on gender and other connected factors like our race and ability impacts our health in so many ways. For example, we get treated differently based on our gender in heathcare settings. Our access to relevant health services and options differs wildly depending on our gender. Even the medical research that gets funded and acted on depends on our gender.

Our guest Tracey Lindeman is a longtime freelance journalist. She’s published in The Guardian, the Associated Press, CBC, Fortune, and more. She is author of BLEED: Destroying Myths and Misogyny in Endometriosis Care. She is from Montreal and currently lives in western Quebec.

A note about content: this episode addresses gender-based violence.

When you know how to respond to the signs of abuse, you can change the story. If someone in your life told you they were experiencing abuse, would you know how to help? There’s a lot of stigma and silence around gender-based violence in our society: too many people who experience abuse are shamed, silenced, and stigmatized, and too many people don’t feel they have the confidence or knowledge to support them.

If you’d like to learn more about how you can support a friend, family member, or colleague who is experiencing abuse, visit signalresponder.ca

Second episode: Dementia and Gender With Dr. Saskia Sivananthan (19:29)

Our guest Dr. Saskia Sivananthan is a healthcare leader and advocate building strategies and solutions for older adults. As Affiliate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at McGill University and former Chief Research & Knowledge Translation Officer at the Alzheimer Society of Canada, she shines a spotlight on the needs of people living with dementia. In 2020, she was appointed to the federal Ministerial Advisory Board on Dementia, and she has worked with many bodies and organizations including the OECD. Dr. Sivananthan is a neuroscientist and health data scientist who has contributed to several international publications, articles, and reports.

From the archives: Menopause With Dr. Shafeena Premji, physician and Director of Mahogany Medical Clinic and The Village Medical, and Janet Ko, President of The Menopause Foundation of Canada (15:25)

t’s interesting how Western medicine has framed women’s sexual and reproductive health. It has a history of presuming normalness means youth and reproduction, so ageing and not reproducing means “abnormal”. Take the term “menopause”, sometimes described as estrogen deficiency, a diminishment of ovarian activity, and a failure of endometrial development.

No wonder we aren’t eager to talk about menopause. Of course, this ties to our cultural fear and loathing of getting older and the lack of medical research that accompanies it. It's particularly intense for women and gender-diverse people, who face ignorance and invisibility as they get older.

Dr. Shafeena Premji and Janet Ko join us to dig into menopause – before, during, and after – and the gaps those who go through it contend with.

Janet Ko is President and Co-Founder of The Menopause Foundation of Canada. Her personal journey to get support convinced her that menopause was an urgent gender equity issue. Janet has held numerous senior leadership positions and is an award-winning communicator. She’s dedicated to helping women thrive through their menopausal years as a passionate speaker and advocate.

Dr. Shafeena Premji is a family physician and founder and director of Mahogany Medical Clinic and The Village Medical, where she offers prenatal care, women's health consultations, and a menopause clinic. Dr. Premji serves on Board of the Canadian Menopause Society and the Medical Advisory Board of the Menopause Foundation of Canada. She’s dedicated to supporting women through their menopausal transition and supporting her colleagues in identifying helpful menopausal treatments.

If you want to make sure no woman, girl, Two Spirit, trans, or nonbinary person feels out of options, out of sight, out of time, or out of mind, visit yescountmein.ca today. When you count yourself in, you’ll join over 71,000 people in the Canadian Women’s Foundation’s generous and active community. You’ll get tools and opportunities to advance gender equality. This movement needs you.

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