I am woman

"If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman." ~ Margaret Thatcher

Happy International Woman’s Day to all!  A special shout-out to all of the special women in my life...you know who you are :)

Did you know? 

• Women perform 66% of the world’s work, earn 10% of the world’s income and own 1% of the world’s property.
• About 25,000 brides are burned to death each year in India because of insufficient dowries. The groom's family will set the bride on fire, presenting it as an accident or suicide. The groom is then free to remarry.
• In a number of countries, women who have been raped are sometimes killed by their own families to preserve the family's honor. Honor killings have been reported in Jordan, Pakistan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and other Persian Gulf countries.
• 100 million to 140 million girls and women have undergone some form of female genital mutilation. Today, this practice is carried out in 28 African countries, despite the fact that it is outlawed in a number of these nations.
• Rape as a weapon of war has been used in Chiapas, Mexico, Rwanda, Kuwait, Haiti, Colombia, and elsewhere.
• An estimated 20 million unsafe abortions-four of every ten abortions worldwide-are performed every year by unskilled practitioners or by women themselves.

Do you need any other reasons to support a global women's movement such as International Women's Day? 

According to the official website, International Women's Day (IWD) is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past,present and future. In some countries like China, Russia, Vietnam and Bulgaria, IWD is a national holiday. The first IWD event was run in 1911, during a time of great expansion and turbulence in the industrialized world that saw booming population growth and the rise of radical ideologies.

Here’s a brief history:

1908
Great unrest and critical debate was occurring amongst women. Women's oppression and inequality was spurring women to become more vocal and active in campaigning for change. Then in 1908, 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights.

1909
In accordance with a declaration by the Socialist Party of America, the first National Woman's Day (NWD) was observed across the United States on 28 February. Women continued to celebrate NWD on the last Sunday of February until 1913.

1910
In 1910 a second International Conference of Working Women was held in Copenhagen. A woman named a Clara Zetkin (Leader of the 'Women's Office' for the Social Democratic Party in Germany) tabled the idea of an International Women's Day. She proposed that every year in every country there should be a celebration on the same day - a Women's Day – to press for their demands. The conference of over 100 women from 17 countries, representing unions, socialist parties, working women's clubs, and including the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament, greeted Zetkin's suggestion with unanimous approval and thus International Women's Day was the result.

1911
Following the decision agreed at Copenhagen in 1911, International Women's Day (IWD) was honoured the first time in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on 19 March. More than one million women and men attended IWD rallies campaigning for women's rights to work, vote, be trained, to hold public office and end discrimination. However less than a week later on 25 March, the tragic 'Triangle Fire' in New York City took the lives of more than 140 working women, most of them Italian and Jewish immigrants. This disastrous event drew significant attention to working conditions and labour legislation in the United States that became a focus of subsequent International Women's Day events. 1911 also saw women's 'Bread & Roses' campaign.

1913-1914
On the eve of World War I campaigning for peace, Russian women observed their first International Women's Day on the last Sunday in February 1913. In 1913 following discussions, International Women's Day was transferred to 8 March and this day has remained the global date for International Women's Day ever since. In 1914 further women across Europe held rallies to campaign against the war and to express women's solidarity.

The official theme of International Women’s Day 2011 is "Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women".  Education is a basic human right. It also is a key driver of economic growth and social change. It is a basis of women’s empowerment. Investing in women and girls has positive multiplier effects on the wellbeing of their families, their communities and nations.  Science education is an essential part of education. The global economy is increasingly knowledge-driven, and requires an educated workforce able to apply existing technology and to develop new science and technologies to combat poverty and adapt to emerging issues such as climate change.  Ensuring that women acquire the necessary skills and competencies in science and technology is an economic imperative; it also empowers women and girls to make informed decisions on critical aspects of their lives, including their health.

While checking out the United Nations website dedicated to International Women’s Day, I learned about UN Women which is a newly-established UN organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women.  UN Women’s focus areas include violence against women, peace and security, leadership and participation, economic empowerment, national planning and budgeting, and human rights.

There are so many global issues faced by women today that it's difficult to wrap my brain around what I can do to improve the lives of women around the world.  One issue that really stood out for me is the abortion issue.  This is an issue that is debated around the world - even in Canada!  Regardless of your religious or moral beliefs (believe me, I have them!), I believe that access to safe abortions is a woman's right.  To be educated on this international topic, click here. 

Another gruesome reality was brought to my attention today while I was in the car.  I was listening to The Current on CBC Radio this morning, and learned what it means to be born female in China.  Unfortunately, for many, being born a girl means death as a result of the country’s one-child policy. Click here to listen to the radio segment or go to The Current's website or read Xinran's new book,  Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother: Stories of Loss and Love.

I love it when celebrities use their fame for positive change!  One of BFF's tweets today was a link to EQUALS, a coalition that was established by Annie Lennox to support the fight for gender equality.  You can check out the website where you’ll find a brilliant, “if one year was 24 hours” visual that gives you a grim breakdown of the struggles women face.

So what about the status of women in Canada? 

Well, on Saturday, I had the privilege of attending a breakfast in honour of International Women’s Day (I even won a door prize – a t-shirt of Rosie the Riveter which I gave to BFF since she invited me to the breakfast).  



Rosie the Riveter

At the breakfast, the MC and guest speaker both mentioned the battle that is still being waged by women who are fighting for equality particularly job and pay equality.  We even sang “Bread & Roses”.  Okay, I didn’t really sing but rather whispered the song (lyrics were provided!). 

The event’s MC, Elaine McDonald, who is the President of a local Labour Council published the following “letter to the editor” today which provides a "then and now" perspective on the labour movement in Canada: 

"Strikes and demonstrations among textile workers in 1911 marked the beginning of the labour movement’s call for women’s right to work, vote, hold office and end discrimination. At the 100-year mark, women around the world and in Canada in particular, celebrate considerable progress. For example, at work and in politics, whereas women were totally excluded in the past, today they only experience a measure of limitation. However, at the end of the day, we continue to rally for those same benefits as those early textile workers, but in fuller measure.

Having won the right to work, women’s still experience a gender pay gap of 70.5% and, in spite of having won the right to vote and hold office, women hold only 22% of elected positions at all levels of government in Canada.

On this hundredth anniversary of a century of progress, women are working longer hours outside the home and shouldering a disproportionate share of unpaid labour and domestic work for their families. In addition, women today have fewer children than in the past and stay out of the work force for shorter terms with their pre-school children, and in spite of all this effort to supplement the family income, their hard-earned second paycheck only serves to maintain what one paycheck achieved in the past. All workers are losing ground, but women to a greater extent than men.

This situation report isn’t a complaint: it’s a call to action. Governments continue to fail to address key issues such as elder care and childcare that severely and negatively women’s participation in the workforce. While the majority of women with pre-school children are in the workforce, only 15% of them have access to public childcare. And at the end of their working careers, which are disproportionately spent in part-time, low-wage and precarious employment, women face a greater prospect of poverty than their male counterparts. The low income rate of senior women on their own significantly exceeds that of men, at more than double the rate. And this hardship isn’t merely historic. Young women today will experience the same poverty in their senior years as women do now. Lack of affordable public childcare will keep them in low-paying part-time jobs and cuts to good-paying union jobs will eliminate opportunities for access to financial security.

On the hundredth anniversary of the movement to extend citizenship and security to women, the labour movement calls upon government to reform the Canadian Pension Plan, gradually enhancing benefits from 25% of insurable earnings to 50%, double the current rate and raise the Guaranteed Income Supplement so no senior lives below the poverty line. The current federal government position that people should invest in private sector pension plans rather than look to an enhanced CPP hasn’t worked for 40 years and isn’t likely to do so now. It will be good for the banks and plan managers but do nothing for workers, especially those in part-time jobs.

Social programs were instrumental in raising working Canadian’s access to income and retirement security throughout the twentieth century. Today, many of those programs are under attack and others are still underdeveloped, especially those which impact women’s lives and careers. It is incumbent upon government to work to eliminate all forms of discrimination in the workforce and society, to address families’ needs for adequate childcare, elder care and pension programs and ensure that women can take their place as full participants in the Canadian economy. Our national economic well-being and productivity depend on it."

So after spending my evening reading about International Women’s Day and increasing my knowledge of the struggles women face around the world, I'm still trying to wrap my brain around what I can do to help but I'm much more aware of the most powerful tools we have to bring about positive change in the world...our voice and our solidarity as women so let's not give up the fight because there's so much more that needs to be done!

Surprisingly, after reading about so much darkness that still exists in world, I have chosen to end my blog post with a celebration.  Not only a celebration for women but a celebration of gratitude for those who have been, who are or who will be committed to fighting for women’s rights around the world. THANK YOU!!!    

What better way to celebrate than to listen to my new favourite female artist...Adele!  Check her out singing my favourite song “Turning Tables” on CBC Radio’s Q with hottie and smartie Jian Ghomeshi (thanks to BFF for the link!):

Lastly, I’d like to dedicate this poem to all of the “Phenomenal Women” in my life:

PHENOMENAL WOMAN

by Maya Angelou

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies

I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size

But when I start to tell them

They think I'm telling lies.

I say,

It's in the reach of my arms

The span of my hips,

The stride of my step,

The curl of my lips.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

I walk into a room

Just as cool as you please,

And to a man,

The fellows stand or

Fall down on their knees.

Then they swarm around me,

A hive of honey bees.

I say,

It's the fire in my eyes

And the flash of my teeth,

The swing of my waist,

And the joy in my feet.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

Men themselves have wondered

What they see in me.

They try so much

But they can't touch

My inner mystery.

When I try to show them,

They say they still can't see.

I say

It's in the arch of my back,

The sun of my smile,

The ride of my breasts,

The grace of my style.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

Now you understand

Just why my head's not bowed.

I don't shout or jump about

Or have to talk real loud.

When you see me passing

It ought to make you proud.

I say,

It's in the click of my heels,

The bend of my hair,

The palm of my hand,

The need of my care,

'Cause I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.