Tomorrow is International Women’s Day, and we will resist the temptation to say, “You’ve come a long way, baby.”
Although it is true and yet ironic in so many ways.
The #metoo movement is seeing women and their allies discover that solidarity and speaking truth to power is not only the way to change things, but also a way to free oneself. But, it’s also a little bit like taking the measurement of exactly how deep misogyny runs in our society.
Women who have challenged their abusers have been praised for their courage. But they have also been attacked and shamed.
And, of course, it has been the women who are in relative positions of economic safety that have been the first to have their stories told. The media, as usual, gravitate to celebrities for their stories.
Meanwhile poor women, immigrant women and Indigenous women’s #metoo stories are usually only told when they result in murder trials or missing women inquiries.
The toll that sexism takes on women is immense.
Women still make 74 cents to every dollar a man earns and the separate value of women’s work in the home has now been lost in the ‘new’ economy where everyone except the rich seem to be struggling.
Our interview with Burnaby’s new top cop is yet another reminder that as far as women have come, they still have a long way to go.
Chief Supt. Deanne Burleigh says she was surprised to keep finding out that she is the first woman when she lands in her new positions. It’s 2018, and she thinks women might just have been further along the equality trail by now.
We agree. Yes, women have come a long way. We have the vote, equal treatment at work, as defined under human rights, reproductive freedom and the freedom to marry who they want to marry. And girls growing up today know that they can play hockey, become a scientist, or be a full-time mom - if they so choose.
But that doesn’t mean that all of those doors are wide open and welcome mats are out. The truth is that just when you think you’ve broken a barrier, there’s another one to break.
Thankfully, as women break those barriers they learn about the women who broke trails for them before they got there. They learn that every woman who challenges sexism, in any way, makes a difference for every woman everywhere.
