The healthier Ontario’s women are, the healthier the province will be – economically, socially and certainly in helping Ontario’s 5 million women and their families live longer and healthier lives. However, there remains a growing need to make the province’s health care system more accessible to women –who make up 70% of its users – and more responsive to the need to take gender differences into account in policy, research, academia and the health care system.
The Ontario Women’s Health Council was established by the Minister of Health in 1998 to effect change from within the system by conducting research, advocacy and public and professional education and, in the process, to leave Ontario with a legacy of leadership in women’s health.
Jane Pepino has been practising law since 1973 and with Aird & Berlis, a prominent full-service law firm, since 1982. As a leading advocate for gender equality, community safety and women’s health issues, she has earned a reputation as a champion of causes and agent of change. Ms. Pepino was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1985 and to the Order of Canada in February, 2001.
