International Women's Day 2008 Marks a Special Anniversary
Mar 07, 2008
In 1977, the United Nations adopted a resolution calling upon member states to proclaim a day for women’s rights and international peace.
Since that year, Canadians have celebrated International Women’s Day (IWD) on March 8th each year. This year’s IWD also marks the 100th anniversary of the march, led by 15,000 women workers from the garment and textile industry through the streets of New York demanding shorter work time, better pay, voting rights and an end to child labour.
The Canadian theme for International Women’s Day 2008 is Strong Women, Strong World. As stated on the Status of Women Canada site, ’Strong Women, Strong World’ makes clear that when we empower women, we secure a brighter future for everyone. The theme is very true; however, the sad reality is that in Canada the government has taken steps that do not empower women at all.
Since the Harper government has taken office, they have eliminated the word equality from the mandate of the Status of Women Canada, they have eliminated funding to many women’s groups that research or advocate for equality and they have eliminated the Court Challenges Program.
Strong women need strong support from governments. Canadian women are not receiving this support as witnessed by Harper’s refusal to implement a proactive pay equity law even though the reality is that Canadian women only earn 71 cents to every dollar a Canadian male earns. The government has also cancelled the federal / provincial child care agreements and has not produced the child care spaces they promised.
All of these actions have had a negative effect on women’s equality in this country and for Aboriginal women, women of colour and women with disabilities the effects are even greater.
"As the anniversary shows, women around the world have always fought for a better world for themselves and their children. And history has shown us that empowered women do make a stronger world. On this IWD, I encourage all Canadians to celebrate the achievements that women have made but more importantly I encourage Canadians to fight to ensure that the women in this country and around the world are able to achieve equality,” states James Clancy, national president of the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE).
"It has been 26 years since Canada signed the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Yet numerous UN committees continue to point out Canada’s failing performance. It is time for us to move forward not backwards!”
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We need to move forward on these types of issues. In my lifetime, it's amazing to see how far women's rights have gone.
APE - 2008-03-19 13:45