Drug laws and policy (including child protection services) are gendered.

This means that drug policies harm women and gender-diverse persons differently than men. Flawed and negative representations of drugs and drug use are often depicted as a threat to “maternal instinct”; thus, such myths have been a reliable way to build support for punitive drug policies. Due to the ongoing impact of slavery and colonial policies, Indigenous, Black and poor women in Canada have been made to fight for their rights, including control over their own bodies, their sexuality, reproduction, and the right to have and to raise their own children. Poor women with children are overwhelmingly the recipients of welfare assistance. So, it is these women who are most often under the surveillance of child protection services which, for some, leads to loss of custody of their children. For example, of all of the child protection investigations in Ontario in 2013, women made up 90% of the cases compared to 10% of men. In BC, 85% of single-parent families are headed by women, meaning women are more likely than men to be under surveillance by child protection services. Yet, few drug treatment and harm reduction services accommodate children – meaning women’s, especially Indigenous women’s, and gender diverse persons’ (for example, nonbinary, transgender, Two-Spirit) needs are underserved.

Policies stemming from the Family Law Act regarding separation (child custody) agreements makes invisible women’s unequal status and their social and legal subordination in Canada.

Although the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees that every individual is equal before and under the law, the Family Law Act and policies stemming from it, makes invisible power relations between men and women in Canadian society. British Columbia’s Family Law Act assumes that men and women have equal status when it comes to family life. Unfortunately, they do not. Recent studies find that women still do more house work and care of children in the home than men. They also still earn less than men, and are over-represented in precarious (part-time) work. Women and gender diverse persons also make up the majority of intimate partner violence and sexual assault victims. Indigenous and Black women, as well as LGBTQIA2+ (i.e., lesbian, transgender) experience even higher rates of violence, including gender-specific forms of state violence (for example, punitive sex-work laws, colonial policies, regulation of reproduction, pregnancy and mothering). This gendered violence shapes health, overdose risk, and access to and uptake of health services. Yet, few drug treatment and harm reduction services address the impacts of on-going gendered violence. This is why it is so important to support women and gender diverse-specific programs and services, especially those that are culturally responsive and peer-, Indigenous- and community-led.