Wednesday March 8, 2023 | LANGFORD, BC
by Mary P Brooke, Editor | Island Social Trends
Strikingly — but not surprisingly –– the Island Social Trends editorial from International Women’s Day 2020 still stands in 2023. Why? Because not much has changed within the core beliefs that women have about themselves, which is often a result of the beliefs and actions that men and society impose upon them.
There is still violence against women including in domestic situations, there is still massive variation in employment and financial opportunities for women, and the overall load for women with children (as well as caring for aging family members) has not really changed all that much.
Canada’s theme for 2023 International Women’s Day is Every Woman Counts. The broader 2023 International Women’s Day theme is #EmbraceEquity.
Changes in legislation around things like pay equity are good, and necessary. Providing prescription contraception at no charge (in BC starting April 2023) is also a leveling of the playing field, and it’s a point of pride in Canada that our federal government stands up for choice and the right to abortion. Organizations and groups that promote women’s wellness are essential, and do good work.
Recent news that more midwifery training will be happening in BC is a step in the right direction for supporting women during pregnancy, labour, childbirth and the post-natal experience.
In the past three years even more things have opened up in terms of societal awareness about things like sexual orientation gender fluidity. But some of it stretches the bounds of common sense or propriety, creating challenges for parents and families.
When people change their gender identity in response to real or perceived societal pressures, this puts many things into a tailspin. A voluntary change in gender identity should make society take a look at what it is imposing upon and expecting of people of both genders. When people feel left out or for some reason are seeking certain types of approval this is problematic if a change in gender identity is seen as the solution.
My wish on International Women’s Day 2023 is that people of whatever gender, mindset, orientation or political stripe take a good hard look at the relationships they maintain with women in their world, and perhaps make a commitment (however small it may be) to change some of their attitudes or actions toward women in their owns lives and in society more broadly.
International Women’s Day 2020 Editorial by Mary P Brooke
International Women’s Day brings to light how far women have come, but how far we’ve yet to go. There is still significant gender inequity embedded into our mainstream culture which sets women back for both social and financial opportunity; add that up lifelong and it’s a means to perpetuate relative poverty for women in Canada.
On the bright side, in Canada we are fortunate to have a federal government that supports the feminist agenda, and in BC the premier and gender equity parliamentary secretary are keen for improvements. Globally the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) this week repeated that women’s health is disadvantaged due to gender bias.
And this weekend watching the Real Time with Bill Maher political news analysis show Brian Cox (a lead actor in HBO’s Succession) commenting on earlier social conditions of ‘north Britain’ / Scotland, I was reminded of a comment closer to home by Island Health Chief Medical Health Officer Richard Stanwick who said during a public presentation in 2016 that women in Sooke die at a younger age than the BC average. Both Cox and Stanwick starkly said it’s essentially due to small-c conservative male-dominant values in a capitalist system by which a disproportionate number of men still get away with controlling the very fundamentals of women’s lives.
Providing quality affordable child care in BC is one of the most important contributions that the NDP government under Premier John Horgan has provided to improve the well-being of and socioeconomic opportunities for women (13,000 new spaces funded since July 2018).
When women are held back from full participation in the workforce they are incrementally set back: the job promotion not won, the old boys’ network party not invited to, possibly years out of the workforce or delayed post-secondary education due to financial restrictions or to raise children, divorce that propels women into a spiral of missed opportunities and income, and providing unpaid home care for children and aging parents… over a lifetime that leaves many senior women in precarious financial circumstances.
Let’s all mark March 8 on our calendars well ahead for next year, and be ready with our anecdotes about women in our modern world. In health, education, financial and job realms, and broader community leadership, there are moments of pride but also pockets of peril for women who seek to do their best but meet with barriers (intentional or systemic) that penalize women for being who they are.
We bear children! We nurture families and communities! We have the same wide range of talents and skills as men when participating in education and career opportunities. And most of the time, when in leadership, women bring a wider view of the human experience. This is to be celebrated, not sidelined.
And — somewhat in reverse — labeling women by gender first is actually a disservice to the whole person. We don’t need to use the ‘F-word’ (feminism) if that makes you squirm. Just look at talents, abilities, and contributions first, with gender as an incidental, and have zero-tolerance for patriarchal claims to dominance (many men and women still exercise internalized misogyny).
With that framework in mind, the old boys’ network which still prevails in business and society (and many other things including disharmony in domestic relationships) will being to slip away.
===== ABOUT ISLAND SOCIAL TRENDS:
Island Social Trends is a professional news portal at islandsocialtrends.ca . Fully online since mid-2020, Island Social Trends emerged from the extensive groundwork of previous print publications in the west shore: MapleLine Magazine (2008-2010), Sooke Voice News (2011-2013), and West Shore Voice News (2014-2020).
Since 2008, journalist and editor Mary P Brooke has taken a socioeconomic lens to news analysis about the west shore and south Vancouver Island region, including BC provincial news, and national news impacts.
Ms Brooke has been covering news of School District 62 (SD62) at the board and committee level, including attending nearly all of their meetings since 2014. Mary P Brooke was a school trustee candidate (SD62 – Belmont Zone: Langford, Colwood, Metchosin and Highlands) in the October 2022 election.