sometimes many times actually I feel
overwhelmed by the number of media items
that relate to women including the
treatment of women in society and
women’s rights there are issues that
relate to men and boys of course but my
focus for today is on women and girls as
I talk about women’s rights it is
important to note that there is no
single or universal definition of women
or women’s experience it’s important to
note that women have different
experiences and we need to also be
conscious of the impact of the
intersection of racism and sexism and
classism and ableism on any individual
woman’s experience feminism you’ve all
heard the word and you’ve likely heard
multiple definitions of the word one
definition of course is that feminists
are a group of man-hating bra-burning
activists but there are other
definitions bell hooks for example is an
eclaim academic feminist theorist author
and artist and she strives to bridge the
racial cultural and gender divide she
said that to be a feminist in the
authentic sense of the term is to want
for all people men and women liberation
from sexist role patterns domination and
oppression
so within its simplest term feminism is
about liberation and equality what then
makes the words so misunderstood I
recently had a conversation with a
former neighbor I told him about
changing careers and he seemed quite
interested until I told him I was
teaching a feminist perspectives course
and then it started his eyes started to
glaze over and he got one of those
really artificial smiles you know the
type that goes to the mouth but really
stops at the cheekbones and never quite
reaches the eyes I know the look I’ve
seen it before when I talk about
feminism so he hesitated and he looked
at me and he said
okay I understand we need to talk about
men and women separately because of all
of the issues facing women right now but
when will we be able to talk about men
and women collectively as a single group
my immediate thought was happening right
now
what do you mean happening right now
what is happening right now is that
women have chosen to join collective
forces and challenge the sexual
harassment and inequality and sexist
language that has been devaluing and
shaming women for a long period of time
I thought of the first woman’s March a
worldwide global movement in support of
women’s equality and changes to policies
and legislation in relation to women but
few seem to know that it’s also related
to health care reform and immigration
reform and racial equality why is that
the second woman’s March was another
global movement in support of women’s
empowerment but I also thought about to
the 2011 slut walk movement when a
Toronto City police officer said to a
group of university students women
should not dress like sluts if they want
to avoid being victimized after blaming
women’s clothing as a cause for rape
university students decided to join
forces and challenged that notion that
violence and that clothing was a cause
of violence so as I think about the
women’s movement and the woman’s marches
I think about the word feminism feminism
is a word that actually has negative
connotations and has had negative
connotations for a very long time the
word was first coined in 1890s and it
appeared in the oxford english
dictionary at about that same time it
was coined in fact to talk about women’s
legal and political rights now
historians typically talk about feminism
in distinct waves of thought and
patterns the first wave of feminism was
in the late 19th and early 20th century
and it focused on legal in Political
Rights and suffrage for white
middle-class Western women at the time
tea parties and posters were the method
through which women sought to recruit
others needless to say things didn’t
happen quickly the second wave of
feminism was in the 60s and 70s and it
sought to broaden the conversation
related to women the focus was on the
discrimination in society in general and
education and in the workplace some of
you may in fact have read this book the
third wave of feminism started in about
the 1990s Rebecca Walker coined the
phrase I am the third wave now it
started in response to what was the
perceived failures of the second wave of
feminism but it started to expand the
conversation by talking about gender and
sexuality and heteronormativity the
fourth wave is the current wave and
women are using technology now in
different ways to recruit others to talk
about the issues happening to women in
society right now but as I was having my
own internal conversation I remembered
that I was in fact having a conversation
with my neighbor so I looked at him and
said well I believe we can talk about
men and women collectively when the
gender pay gap no longer exists when the
healthcare gap no longer exists when
immigrant women and indigenous women and
women from cultural minorities are no
longer discriminated against because of
who they are you may imagine he looked
at me and his eyes became even more
glazed and then he looked at me and said
oh my wife she’s over there she’s waving
at me I’m sorry I have to go I really
wanted to have this conversation right
now but we’ll have to do it at another
time as I watched him walk away I
thought no don’t walk away from me
I want to have this conversation right
now not later but he was gone I felt so
cheated it’s happened before of course
conversations that challenge gender
norms result in resistance by putting
off the conversation changing the topic
or has happened that day by walking away
but we need to find a way to start and
have those difficult conversations we
could start with a documentary
like the one that uncovered sexual
assault of immigrant women working the
night shift in the janitorial field or
what about the one that looks at rape on
college campuses we could also look at
one that explores the complexities of
sexuality a social psychologist did a
research study and she talked to young
women young women reported that they
often engaged in sexual behavior not
because they wanted to but because they
didn’t want to hurt the ego of the
fellow they were with so the fellows ego
became the overriding factor in their
decision to have sex rather than their
own needs we need to look at the
socialization of our children and how
men and women later understand and
understand relationships as I think of
those issues the issues really relate to
one of the key factors related to women
right now and that’s violence against
women according to the Canadian Women’s
Foundation in 2018 young women aged 15
to 24 experienced dating violence at a
rate six times that of young men
forty-seven percent of crimes committed
against girls under 12 or sexual crimes
60% of women with disabilities
experienced violence indigenous women
experienced violence at a rate 2.5 times
that of the general population and a
Canadian researcher recently found that
cyberbullying related suicides or on the
rise so for those who think that
feminism has no place today I and the
stats disagree technology has created
new challenges and realities today but
new or old their continued to exist
issues for women when I first graduated
from the University of Manitoba I was
determined to change the world
now I didn’t quite know what that meant
but I was determined I started my career
in adult Corrections assisting federal
offenders to successfully reintegrate
into society shortly after I started
of my male colleagues lamented the fact
that he had been assigned a female
parolee to supervise he said I hate
supervising female offenders they have
so many issues and they cry all the time
now I hadn’t yet supervised daffy male
offender so I didn’t really know the
depth of what he was talking about and
then I started to supervise women
offenders and I realized they had many
unique and different experiences that
men did not and then about six months
into my career I got tired of being
called dear by a number of the
middle-aged correctional officers and
the prisons I visited at one point I’d
had enough so I looked at the officer
and I said I am NOT your dear I don’t
appreciate you calling me that
so please don’t call me that again now
you may imagine he looked at me and
laughed he did however call me at my
office later that day and apologize it
was at that moment that I claimed my
feminist label I knew I needed to if I
had any hope of being successful in a
largely patriarchal environment so as I
think about the experiences of women
offenders and women in general I think
of Kurt Cobain now he is not a person I
ever thought I would be quoting however
he did once say rape is one of the most
terrible crimes on earth and it happens
every minute the problem with groups who
deal with rape is that they try and
educate women how to defend themselves
what they need to do is teach men not to
rape go to the source
I agree so let’s look at our role in the
socialization of our children for
example I believe we need to focus on
enhancing self-worth not self-esteem
because if we tell our children they are
the smartest or fastest or funniest what
happens then it backfires when someone’s
smarter or faster or funnier arrives on
the scene our children need to know
they’re loved for who they are not for
what they do and what about those
ever-present thumbs-up and thumbs-down
signs and the impact of living one’s
life by counting the number of both or
what about the role of women and music
videos and video games these are all the
issues I discuss in my class and more
many of my students tell me they had no
idea about the depth and breadth of
issues related to women one year I had a
student come bounding into class she was
so excited an anticipation of the media
assignment she decided to take pictures
of the writing on the wall in the
woman’s washroom and as she started to
read the writing she was horrified by
what she saw so she went home and told
her boyfriend the boyfriend agreed he
was going to read the writing in the
men’s washroom and he did and he was
also horrified so they started a
conversation about that and I thought
that’s perfect a conversation there was
also a conversation that was started by
a student who came into class to talk
about the fact that a judge had made
comments about a sexual assault victim
in his court another student came to
class to talk about the impact of that
famous father figure who was charged and
convicted of sexual assault
so conversations are important they
allow things to happen as I think of
feminism feminism needs to stand for
more than women’s rights because it
really is about human rights but I
believe feminism is about more than that
I believe feminism starts for focus
and flexibility and freedom and future
so I invite you all to join in the
conversation however that works for you
whether it is watching a documentary
whether it’s attending a woman’s March
now I know it’s always easy to say I’m
too busy I was too busy to attend the
first woman’s March but I knew I needed
to attend the second one my husband and
I joined and we found it exciting and
energizing and emotional and one fellow
there had this written on a placard that
he was carrying I agree so again let’s
get involved let’s talk about a
conversation and how we can be involved
in the conversation
sometimes it’s about Facebook or Twitter
or whatever it is that works for you
what is important is that we have the
conversation or anyone here involved in
a book club okay
what about an issues club where we agree
men and women to talk about a key issue
related to women it might be modern-day
slavery or what we know as human
trafficking it could also be the unequal
availability of education for women and
girls around the world I met these two
young ladies in a visit to Ghana West
Africa they told me the family decided
there was no point and them getting an
education so set them off to work at a
very young age neither saw any hope for
change in their life there are two
things that guide the work that I do
this quote is one of them because I
believe we can make change if we let our
voices be heard
and I think of this quote in relation to
the question I was asked by my former
neighbor when will we be able to talk
about men and women collectively as one
I think the answer is simple when the
work is done but I have this in my
office as well Wonder Woman my daughter
gave this to me she said mum she’s just
like you so when I’m asked the question
why am ia feminist the answer is also
simple because I need to be
thank you [Applause]
overwhelmed by the number of media items
that relate to women including the
treatment of women in society and
women’s rights there are issues that
relate to men and boys of course but my
focus for today is on women and girls as
I talk about women’s rights it is
important to note that there is no
single or universal definition of women
or women’s experience it’s important to
note that women have different
experiences and we need to also be
conscious of the impact of the
intersection of racism and sexism and
classism and ableism on any individual
woman’s experience feminism you’ve all
heard the word and you’ve likely heard
multiple definitions of the word one
definition of course is that feminists
are a group of man-hating bra-burning
activists but there are other
definitions bell hooks for example is an
eclaim academic feminist theorist author
and artist and she strives to bridge the
racial cultural and gender divide she
said that to be a feminist in the
authentic sense of the term is to want
for all people men and women liberation
from sexist role patterns domination and
oppression
so within its simplest term feminism is
about liberation and equality what then
makes the words so misunderstood I
recently had a conversation with a
former neighbor I told him about
changing careers and he seemed quite
interested until I told him I was
teaching a feminist perspectives course
and then it started his eyes started to
glaze over and he got one of those
really artificial smiles you know the
type that goes to the mouth but really
stops at the cheekbones and never quite
reaches the eyes I know the look I’ve
seen it before when I talk about
feminism so he hesitated and he looked
at me and he said
okay I understand we need to talk about
men and women separately because of all
of the issues facing women right now but
when will we be able to talk about men
and women collectively as a single group
my immediate thought was happening right
now
what do you mean happening right now
what is happening right now is that
women have chosen to join collective
forces and challenge the sexual
harassment and inequality and sexist
language that has been devaluing and
shaming women for a long period of time
I thought of the first woman’s March a
worldwide global movement in support of
women’s equality and changes to policies
and legislation in relation to women but
few seem to know that it’s also related
to health care reform and immigration
reform and racial equality why is that
the second woman’s March was another
global movement in support of women’s
empowerment but I also thought about to
the 2011 slut walk movement when a
Toronto City police officer said to a
group of university students women
should not dress like sluts if they want
to avoid being victimized after blaming
women’s clothing as a cause for rape
university students decided to join
forces and challenged that notion that
violence and that clothing was a cause
of violence so as I think about the
women’s movement and the woman’s marches
I think about the word feminism feminism
is a word that actually has negative
connotations and has had negative
connotations for a very long time the
word was first coined in 1890s and it
appeared in the oxford english
dictionary at about that same time it
was coined in fact to talk about women’s
legal and political rights now
historians typically talk about feminism
in distinct waves of thought and
patterns the first wave of feminism was
in the late 19th and early 20th century
and it focused on legal in Political
Rights and suffrage for white
middle-class Western women at the time
tea parties and posters were the method
through which women sought to recruit
others needless to say things didn’t
happen quickly the second wave of
feminism was in the 60s and 70s and it
sought to broaden the conversation
related to women the focus was on the
discrimination in society in general and
education and in the workplace some of
you may in fact have read this book the
third wave of feminism started in about
the 1990s Rebecca Walker coined the
phrase I am the third wave now it
started in response to what was the
perceived failures of the second wave of
feminism but it started to expand the
conversation by talking about gender and
sexuality and heteronormativity the
fourth wave is the current wave and
women are using technology now in
different ways to recruit others to talk
about the issues happening to women in
society right now but as I was having my
own internal conversation I remembered
that I was in fact having a conversation
with my neighbor so I looked at him and
said well I believe we can talk about
men and women collectively when the
gender pay gap no longer exists when the
healthcare gap no longer exists when
immigrant women and indigenous women and
women from cultural minorities are no
longer discriminated against because of
who they are you may imagine he looked
at me and his eyes became even more
glazed and then he looked at me and said
oh my wife she’s over there she’s waving
at me I’m sorry I have to go I really
wanted to have this conversation right
now but we’ll have to do it at another
time as I watched him walk away I
thought no don’t walk away from me
I want to have this conversation right
now not later but he was gone I felt so
cheated it’s happened before of course
conversations that challenge gender
norms result in resistance by putting
off the conversation changing the topic
or has happened that day by walking away
but we need to find a way to start and
have those difficult conversations we
could start with a documentary
like the one that uncovered sexual
assault of immigrant women working the
night shift in the janitorial field or
what about the one that looks at rape on
college campuses we could also look at
one that explores the complexities of
sexuality a social psychologist did a
research study and she talked to young
women young women reported that they
often engaged in sexual behavior not
because they wanted to but because they
didn’t want to hurt the ego of the
fellow they were with so the fellows ego
became the overriding factor in their
decision to have sex rather than their
own needs we need to look at the
socialization of our children and how
men and women later understand and
understand relationships as I think of
those issues the issues really relate to
one of the key factors related to women
right now and that’s violence against
women according to the Canadian Women’s
Foundation in 2018 young women aged 15
to 24 experienced dating violence at a
rate six times that of young men
forty-seven percent of crimes committed
against girls under 12 or sexual crimes
60% of women with disabilities
experienced violence indigenous women
experienced violence at a rate 2.5 times
that of the general population and a
Canadian researcher recently found that
cyberbullying related suicides or on the
rise so for those who think that
feminism has no place today I and the
stats disagree technology has created
new challenges and realities today but
new or old their continued to exist
issues for women when I first graduated
from the University of Manitoba I was
determined to change the world
now I didn’t quite know what that meant
but I was determined I started my career
in adult Corrections assisting federal
offenders to successfully reintegrate
into society shortly after I started
of my male colleagues lamented the fact
that he had been assigned a female
parolee to supervise he said I hate
supervising female offenders they have
so many issues and they cry all the time
now I hadn’t yet supervised daffy male
offender so I didn’t really know the
depth of what he was talking about and
then I started to supervise women
offenders and I realized they had many
unique and different experiences that
men did not and then about six months
into my career I got tired of being
called dear by a number of the
middle-aged correctional officers and
the prisons I visited at one point I’d
had enough so I looked at the officer
and I said I am NOT your dear I don’t
appreciate you calling me that
so please don’t call me that again now
you may imagine he looked at me and
laughed he did however call me at my
office later that day and apologize it
was at that moment that I claimed my
feminist label I knew I needed to if I
had any hope of being successful in a
largely patriarchal environment so as I
think about the experiences of women
offenders and women in general I think
of Kurt Cobain now he is not a person I
ever thought I would be quoting however
he did once say rape is one of the most
terrible crimes on earth and it happens
every minute the problem with groups who
deal with rape is that they try and
educate women how to defend themselves
what they need to do is teach men not to
rape go to the source
I agree so let’s look at our role in the
socialization of our children for
example I believe we need to focus on
enhancing self-worth not self-esteem
because if we tell our children they are
the smartest or fastest or funniest what
happens then it backfires when someone’s
smarter or faster or funnier arrives on
the scene our children need to know
they’re loved for who they are not for
what they do and what about those
ever-present thumbs-up and thumbs-down
signs and the impact of living one’s
life by counting the number of both or
what about the role of women and music
videos and video games these are all the
issues I discuss in my class and more
many of my students tell me they had no
idea about the depth and breadth of
issues related to women one year I had a
student come bounding into class she was
so excited an anticipation of the media
assignment she decided to take pictures
of the writing on the wall in the
woman’s washroom and as she started to
read the writing she was horrified by
what she saw so she went home and told
her boyfriend the boyfriend agreed he
was going to read the writing in the
men’s washroom and he did and he was
also horrified so they started a
conversation about that and I thought
that’s perfect a conversation there was
also a conversation that was started by
a student who came into class to talk
about the fact that a judge had made
comments about a sexual assault victim
in his court another student came to
class to talk about the impact of that
famous father figure who was charged and
convicted of sexual assault
so conversations are important they
allow things to happen as I think of
feminism feminism needs to stand for
more than women’s rights because it
really is about human rights but I
believe feminism is about more than that
I believe feminism starts for focus
and flexibility and freedom and future
so I invite you all to join in the
conversation however that works for you
whether it is watching a documentary
whether it’s attending a woman’s March
now I know it’s always easy to say I’m
too busy I was too busy to attend the
first woman’s March but I knew I needed
to attend the second one my husband and
I joined and we found it exciting and
energizing and emotional and one fellow
there had this written on a placard that
he was carrying I agree so again let’s
get involved let’s talk about a
conversation and how we can be involved
in the conversation
sometimes it’s about Facebook or Twitter
or whatever it is that works for you
what is important is that we have the
conversation or anyone here involved in
a book club okay
what about an issues club where we agree
men and women to talk about a key issue
related to women it might be modern-day
slavery or what we know as human
trafficking it could also be the unequal
availability of education for women and
girls around the world I met these two
young ladies in a visit to Ghana West
Africa they told me the family decided
there was no point and them getting an
education so set them off to work at a
very young age neither saw any hope for
change in their life there are two
things that guide the work that I do
this quote is one of them because I
believe we can make change if we let our
voices be heard
and I think of this quote in relation to
the question I was asked by my former
neighbor when will we be able to talk
about men and women collectively as one
I think the answer is simple when the
work is done but I have this in my
office as well Wonder Woman my daughter
gave this to me she said mum she’s just
like you so when I’m asked the question
why am ia feminist the answer is also
simple because I need to be
thank you [Applause]
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