An historic day... and one of hope, March 8, 2010: Proud of our local women
Posted Mar 4, 2010 By EMC News
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Tweet ThisIn Canada and the United States, International Women's Day has been celebrated on March 8 since 1977. While some highlight this special day by giving flowers to the women they know, it is important to realize that International Women's Day is much mtore than a celebration with balloons and confetti.
March 8 is an occasion to reflect on the considerable progress made with regard to the equal standing of men and women in this country and elsewhere in the world. It is to understand that the realization of our current achievements required a great deal of effort. It is to realize that Western freedoms are not representative of what is happening in the rest of the world.
This is the moment to realize that before 1930, a Canadian woman was not even considered a person under the Civil Code. Think that before 1988 the law tolerated the beating of wives by their husbands. Think that the idea of non-consensual sex only appeared in the Criminal Code in 1992.
We must think about those women in other countries who give their daughters up for adoption or who have abortions when the expected baby is a girl. Think of those women who are stoned to death for committing a mistake, of those who can only talk to their own husbands, of those who are exploited in all manner of ways for the amusement of others, of those violated by terrorist groups and subjected to enforced prostitution.
March 8, an historic day for women in the West, a day of hope for those less fortunate.
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