A Celebration of Women
Since 1910, International Women’s Day has been celebrated on 8 March every year to acknowledge the accomplishments of women. It originally began as a symbol to protest women’s worker rights and support suffrage movements around the world, and has continued today to advocate for gender equality.
At Marc Garneau, Social Justice and Equity Convenor Edith Nyamekye recognized International Women’s Day by handing out purple ribbons to three hundred people during first period, who wore the ribbons to show solidarity with women. During lunch, the Me To We Club had a poster on which students could sign their names and write positive messages advocating equality. The poster was later displayed on the cafeteria.
Fatima Gulab, who signed the poster, said, “I wanted to sign it to show support for empowering women, especially since I am a girl myself.” However, she thought the celebration could have been advertised beforehand and participation could have been increased with more promotional events at lunch, a sentiment which was echoed by other students as well.
Edith had originally planned to distribute bracelets but wasn’t able to due to budget constraints. Instead, she opted for purple ribbons, which were a hit with students. The Me To We poster had about sixty signatures and the club’s President Caryn Qian felt it was a definite success. She added, “We wanted to celebrate the success that has been made in gender equality and the poster was welcomed by students.”
This year, women used the day to bring awareness specifically to labour rights, abortion laws, and gender violence. In addition, countries such as France honoured the perseverance and importance of women by awarding the first Simone Veil prize to Doumara Ngatansou for her activism against forced marriages. While activism for women’s rights occurred around the world during the day, Garneau celebrated International Women’s Day on a smaller scale and accomplished its goals with more plans in stock for next year.
