International Women’s Day Heroines

Happy International Women’s Day! IWD celebrates how women make change economically, politically and socially. But you don’t have to work at an international level to make change- as has been echoed many times, the personal is political. Does the personal is political still have meaning in this "post-feminist" age? I think it does.

It’s certainly made a difference in the past. Think of Margaret Sanger, who went against the grain in her fight to make birth control information and supplies available. Reproductive choice was not something women could readily have, and Sanger wanted to change that.

Reproductive choice is difficult for women even today, in Canada and many parts of the world. Women don’t always have the freedom to negotiate safe sex, or any sex at all. If a woman gets a sexually transmitted infection like HIV, she is often blamed, rather than supported to get good health care and treatment.

I think IWD is a great reminder of the work that’s been done and is still to be done, whether it’s on a personal level (I want to my daughter to be able to talk about condom use without feeling threatened or judged) or societal level (I want all women to have access to safe reproductive care, including abortion and midwifery, if they so choose). Things aren’t yet equal and fair for women, but there are women and men worldwide working patiently and persistently to change that. On International Women’s Day (and every day), I salute them all.

- Janet

Check This Out:  Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign seeks to raise awareness and mobilize support in Canada for Africa’s grandmothers. It was launched on the eve of International Women’s Day in 2006.

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