Strong Women, Strong Canada

Vision of Canada

“No gypsies, no Irish, no blacks.”

One could have dropped a pin and it would be heard, as there was silence as all eyes and ears were on International Women’s Day 2012 keynote speaker Angela Baines as she held a paper with those words.  All at once, and while Baines was recounting her immigrant story in Europe and Canada, everyone started thinking about their own stories, their entry into Canada and the similar challenges that they faced as women.

“I remember that when I was 14 and we were new immigrants in Europe, I was walking home from school with some friends.  A group with shaved heads started shouting at us and made threatening motions.  It was great that my father taught me self-defense.  We stood our ground, all young, all girls.  And we fought back.  They got the surprise of their lives,” recounts Baines.  She said that when she and her husband migrated to Canada during the height of the Economic crisis in Europe, she was forced to set up her own design studio at home and faced a whole new set of challenges.  However, this did not stop her.  “Never let fear win. It is frightening.  Fear will always be there. But never let it stop you from doing what you want to do,” she said.

Even at 100 years of celebrating International Women’s Day, women still face several challenges: most are still not paid as much as their male counterparts, women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics, and there is still violence against women, which is worse than that faced by men.  In short, women have not gained true equality.

However, as Ms. Baines said, “We have [a duty] to instill confidence in young female children.  If we have strong women, we will have strong communities. [We can] let everyday be an international women’s day.”

Articleand photo by Issa. Copyright 2009-2012.
website: www.YouWantToBeRich.com
email: issa@youwanttoberich.com

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