About IWSO

Values and Beliefs

At IWSO we believe:

• Feminism is all-inclusive. Feminism is not a set of behaviours, a dogma or a closed community. It is a movement that anyone can belong to in order to work toward a goal of equality between men and women.
  
  Feminism is not a political view that grows out of our struggles over women’s oppression, out of our lives as women, out of our identification with each other and our love for women. But as a politic, it is world view anyone can have… feminism is a politic with the potential to bring a new approach to the problems of the world.” (Charlotte Brunch, Passionate Politics)
  
  
• Violence against women and children needs to end. Men will become less violent when violence becomes socially unacceptable. For this reason, IWSO seeks to change views in society about violence, power and control, and sexism.
• Women have a right to safety. We will appreciate the complexity of women’s lives and the different choices that women will make to deal with the violence in their lives.
• To assist women in violent situations, our work must focus on their immediate safety needs. We will also address other issues (e.g. economic dependence, self-esteem, alcoholism, etc.) that perhaps factors in promoting and supporting violence in inter-personal relationships.
• IWSO is accountable to the community of immigrant and visible minority women, in general, for adhering to our principles, achieving the results we set out for our work, and operating the agency in a financially responsible manner.
• Immigrant women have a right and a responsibility to be part of Canadian society.
• Social institutions and organizations need to be transformed so that they are respectful and inclusive of immigrant and visible minority women.
• Racism is another form of violence that denies women their rightful place in society and the opportunities to be a self-determined person.