Achievements are being celebrated and current struggles highlighted as people across the city, country and the world mark the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day.
A rally calling for a national childcare plan was held at the Ryerson University campus on Tuesday.
“Unfortunately, sexual harassment keeps existing,” Toronto’s former mayor Barbara Hall said at the event.
“It’s important that people have the tools they need for change,” she added.
A report released Monday by the YWCA suggests a lack of accessible and affordable childcare restricts women from fully participating in the workforce.
The organization claims the federal government isn’t acknowledging the struggles of working mothers and is “acting as if women are still at home.”
Canadian women make 73 cents to every dollar a man makes.
The Assaulted Women’s Helpline has started a campaign called Who Would You Call? to mark the centenary. It allows women to nominate a friend who was there for them in a time of need. Nominations can be made through a letter, blog or video. The group says nearly 50,000 women in Ontario don’t have a friend to call in desperate times and must rely on the helpline.
Visit the website to nominate your friend. The campaign runs until April 15.
On Tuesday the head of the United Nations women’s agency said while much progress has been made in the 100 years since International Women’s Day was established, gender discrimination is still a major problem around the world.
Former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet highlighted the fact that girls are still less likely to go to school than boys, most illiterate adults around the world are women and a woman dies in childbirth or because of childbirth-related complications every minute and a half.
Only 28 women are heads of state or government and only eight per cent are peace negotiators, she said.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has come under harsh criticism over the
past year for his government's cuts to women's programs and the maternal health plan he put forward at the G8 summit in Huntsville.
Last May a Conservative senator issued a crass, but apparently well-intentioned warning to women's groups protesting Harper's decision not to include abortion in his women's health plan for the developing world. Senator Nancy Ruth told protesters to "shut the f--k up on the issue" or face backlash from the government.
Shortly after the federal government announced it was cutting funding to several women's groups.
A large International Women’s Day rally is scheduled for Saturday. The march starts at 1pm at Bloor and St. George and will make its way down to the Ryerson campus.