I will never forget as long as I live, that the very first thing Stephen Harper did when he came to power was attack the rights of women.
By ordering his minions to remove the words "women's equality" from every document of the Status of Women.
Or forget how his depraved years in power were marked by the most miserable misogyny.
So you can imagine how happy I feel that on this International Women's Day I am now living in a new Canada.
Where our new prime minister is standing up for women rights.
By among other things, making his cabinet gender equal.
Promising to investigate the fate of these missing or murdered aboriginal women...
No matter how much it costs, or how long and painful is the process.
And is a man who clearly loves and respects women...
Unlike the grotesque misogynist Stephen Harper, who hated them so much he tried to erase all traces of feminist history.
The Harper government has spent millions to commemorate the War of 1812 and other episodes from Canadian history, but has also erased at least one inspiring piece of the past.
Therese Casgrain, a feminist icon and Quebec heroine who died in 1981, has been quietly removed from a national honour, to be replaced by a volunteer award bearing the prime minister’s banner.
An image of Casgrain and her namesake volunteer-award medal also disappeared from Canada’s $50 bank note in 2012, replaced by the image of an icebreaker on a new currency series.
An image of the so-called Famous Five women was removed from the same bank note.
While the Trudeau government is asking Canadians to help decide what iconic Canadian woman should appear on a new bank note.
Which won't be easy because there are so many distinguished women in this country and its history whose achievements have never been properly recognized.
And of course I love this message from our new government that tells me that we really are living in a new Canada...
As for who to celebrate that's not easy either, because again there are so many.
But I'm going to start with my Mum, and my sister, and my grandmothers, who were all feminists in their own way, and raised me to respect women.
And who although I was a wild rebellious teenager who was always getting into fights, taught me how to be strong but gentle.
As well as teaching me among so many other things, how to iron my own shirt.
Woohoo. Take that my hapless male friends. So wrinkled and so green with envy.
And of course, I'd like to take the occasion to wish all my female readers happy international Women's Day.
We have so far to go, but let's fight the miserable misogynists of this world together, and send this message to girls and women everywhere.
One day there will be justice, and you will free to dream of being anyone or doing anything you want...
As you may know, I strongly believe that only women can save the world from the mess violent men have made of it.
So let's all join the fight for women's rights.
And help make a better world for all of us...
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8 comments:
Hi Simon
I really appreciate your thoughtful and gracious words on this International Women's Day. Your words are inspiring ring so true and the actions of our new government as posted here and reported in tonight's news make me feel so proud for the positive promise of Canada and all its citizens.
Bill
I've often thought the world would be a less violent place without men but the women of The Harper Party prove that theory wrong. So do men like you and Our Justin. <3 Pamela
Nice! Thank you Simon.
TS
hi Bill...thank you, I appreciate your kind words. I am celebrating the present, but I want to make sure that we never forget the past. And I will never forget how the first thing Harper did was erase the words "women's equality" as well as scrapping the Court Challenges program. For when I heard about that, I knew we were dealing with a dangerous ideologue like we had never seen before in this country. How tragically true that turned out to be. But isn't it great that we finally got rid of those ghastly Cons? And that we have a decent Prime Minister who seems determined to narrow the equality gap between men and women. It's about time...
hi Pamela...thank you for that kind comment. As I said in my post, I'm afraid my past is nothing to brag about. I did get into a lot of fights, and was full of the macho bullshit that is the fate of so many boys. But I was only defending myself from the bullies who attacked me, and I have never ever bullied anyone. Still as I also said in my post, the women and the man in my life steered me in the right direction. And my belief that women should rule the world is stronger than ever....
Psst, Simon, I got into fights too.
Heard from some brave women I know in other countries. I'm thinking in particular of the "sisters and comrades" from Mexico (femicides) Tunisia and Turkey (pressure from religious extremists, but also a lack in de facto equality, though those two countries pioneered official equality in North Africa and in the Middle East). I got death threats when I was organising a union at a chain of bookshops when I was a young woman, but they get them every day.
hi TS...thank you I'm glad you like it. I felt I had to mark the occasion, and celebrate the fact that the miserable misogynist Harper is gone...
hi lagatta....well I'm shocked, shocked I tell you. But yes, if you are a lefty in a world full of fascist bullies, clashes are inevitable. And if you belong to a fighting clan with a long record of bloody slaughter, they're pretty hard to avoid. As I used to tell my English Mum it's a Scottish thing, and I just can't help it... ;)
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