Day 1 on the job for Laura Winters, new head of St. John's Status of Women Council

Laura Winters is starting her new job as the executive director of the St. John's Status of Women Council, but she says a lot of the issues she's hoping to tackle are long standing.

"I'd love for us to continue to fill the systemic gaps that exist," Winter said Monday morning, before starting her first shift in the new role.

As a former co-ordinator of the Safe Harbour Outreach Program, Winters said, she has a long history of working to empower women in all walks of life.

The issues facing women are ones she's familiar with, and Winters hopes her education and background will help push the dialogue.

I think in a big way our communities are stronger together.- Laura Winters

"I'm a sociologist, I work around stigma, so that's something I'm very interested in bringing to the centre — how we can help women overcome the stigma and the barriers that exist in our systems," she told CBC's St. John's Morning Show.

There are particular issues in Newfoundland and Labrador that stand out to Winters.

"I think what we've been traditionally advocating against for a very long time at the centre, which is our high rates of violence against women in this province, especially when we look at Indigenous women and girls," she said, adding there's a "chronic underfunding" of organizations doing work to change that.

"I also think about our huge wage gap that we have in this province."

Winters said these are problems the women's council, as well as other community groups, have been working on for years, and she hopes her experience will help move things forward productively.

She also wants to encourage more women to get involved to make change.

"Women are the experts in their own lives.… What do they want advocacy around?" she said.

Winters is taking over the role from Jenny Wright, who announced in March she would be leaving the council, but said she would still be active in her fight for women's rights in the community.

A leaked copy of a letter signed by several community groups and organizations that was sent to the council expressed their "deep and growing concern about the damaged relationship" between the groups and the council. The letter was written four months before Wright's resignation.

'A space where women come first'

Winter said she credits the work done by previous executive directors with the council, and will be reaching out to various community groups once she gets settled into the role.

"What brings community together is the fact that all frontline organizations want to do their best in serving the people for whom their services are there for," Winters said.

"It's a space where women come first and it's a space for all women, no matter what their experience, so I feel very comfortable in walking in through the doors of the centre."

Winters said the first step in her new role is to sit down with the small team at the women's centre and see where things stand.

"I think in a big way our communities are stronger together, so I'm very interested in community capacity building," she said.

"I'm interested in how we can, first and foremost, leverage the resources that are out there in the women-serving communities, in the organizations doing this work — how we can come together, leverage those resources, and leverage the advocacy that's already happening."

And, she said, she's welcoming ideas and suggestions.

"If there's women listening who have ideas that they would like to see happen in the centre, there will be opportunities. We're open for business. Come in for a cup of tea."

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