Canada seems poised for a proper celebratory day, today March 8, for International Women’s Day. Of course, this allies with two other days: Women’s Equality Day, and Women’s History Month.
These mark important celebrations for women throughout the world with a recognized day. Canada remains an important proponent of the rights of women in the legal context and privileges in the socio-cultural environment.
There appear a number of women of prominence or modest achievement in the world – “Hypatia of Alexandria, Elizabeth Anscombe, Hannah Arendt, Margaret Atwood, Simone de Beauvoir, Hildegard von Bingen, Marie Curie, Lady Anne Conway, Sarah Margaret Fuller… and innumerable others” and many of whom I do not know the full biographies – and, indeed, in Canada (Jacobsen, 2018).
In recognition of Canadian women’s achievements, often overlooked, we find the 2018 recognition from the substantive to the trivial. On the ledger of the more substantive, we find the boost in pro-women initiatives at the level of the federal government (O’Malley, 2018).
Also, the symbolic importance of a change in the ten dollar bill image with a printing of Viola Desmond, which is signal a representation of a woman of achievement in Canadian history on a Bank of Canada note (Bank of Canada, 2018).
Finance Minister Bill Morneau stated, “Two years ago today—on International Women’s Day—Prime Minister Trudeau and I announced that the time had come for a Canadian woman to be represented on Canada’s bank notes. Since then, thanks in large part through her sister Wanda, more and more Canadians have come to know Viola Desmond’s remarkable personal story of courage and dignity. Her story serves as inspiration to all Canadians and acts as a powerful reminder of how one person’s actions can help trigger change across generations” (Ibid.).
On the moderate, middle-part of the ledge, we find a change to the Barbie line of products (Batha & Taylor, 2018). Also, the hashtag #MyFeminism is a decent symbolic gesture in more modern media, social media, too (Status of Women Canada, 2018). Then into the trivial side, as Abedi hints at in the title and so on, we have the upside-down McDonald’s “M” into a “W” standing for “Women” instead of “McDonald’s” (Abedi, 2018).
Overall, it seems okay as a celebration of the day for women around the world in Canada, but, as the cliché goes, there is (always) more to be done.
References
Abedi, M. (2018, March 8). McDonald’s flips arches to honour International Women’s Day — but it backfires. Retrieved from https://globalnews.ca/news/4070137/mcdonalds-international-womens-day-flipped-arches/.
Bank of Canada. (2018, March 8). New $10 bank note featuring Viola Desmond unveiled on International Women’s Day. Retrieved from https://www.bankofcanada.ca/2018/03/new-10-bank-note-featuring-viola-desmond-unveiled/.
Batha, E. & Taylor, L. (2018, March 8). How the world is celebrating International Women’s Day. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/barbie-flashmob-womens-day-1.4567692.
Jacobsen, S. D. (2018, March 8). Rick G. Rosner: Giga Society, Member; Mega Society, Member & ex-Editor (1991-97); and Writer (Part Ten). Retrieved from https://in-sightjournal.com/2014/12/15/ick-g-rosner-giga-society-member-mega-society-member-ex-editor-1990-96-and-writer-part-ten/.
O’Malley, K. (2018, March 8). Team Trudeau to mark International Women’s Day by boosting pro-woman budget initiatives. Retrieved from https://ipolitics.ca/2018/03/08/team-trudeau-mark-international-womens-day-boosting-pro-woman-budget-initiatives/.
Status of Women Canada. (2018, March 8). Government of Canada celebrates International Women’s Day 2018 – #MyFeminism. Retrieved from https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/government-of-canada-celebrates-international-womens-day-2018—myfeminism-676251983.html.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen founded In-Sight Publishing and In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal.