During International Women’s Week, I attended two presentations in the auditorium from Indigenous and Muslim women speaking on their daily lives and dealing with struggles that they must face. I also attended a presentation speaking on climate change in Canada, and how Indigenous women are victimized in society and are subject to brutal attacks and even murder. These presentations had some interesting facts and included things which I did not know of before which is what made them interesting to me.
To begin, we listened to Nadia Naqvi, a Muslim teacher and public speaker which told us her story and her struggles, including what life is like in her shoes. At the start of her career, Nadia received countless racial slurs and insults towards her and her religion and appearance just because she is Muslim. She also spoke on her life before becoming a teacher, and how her and her family were constantly seen as a danger to society as people at restaurants, stores, and public areas viewed them in a certain way. When the Canadian government announced Bill 21 and what it stands for, Nadia decided to start a new route in her life and to become a public speaker and voice for all indigenous and Muslim women who would be the most affected by it. Nadia began reaching out to news broadcasts and did many interviews in order to spread her voice and reach across Canada to raise awareness for Muslim and Indigenous women which are as well, being targeted by this law and this discrimination against them and their culture/religion.
After listening to her speech, I concluded that Bill 21 is a greater issue than other make it seem as. It is stripping people of their form of expression and way of dressing and portraying themselves in society. Although the said goal of this law is to have equality of men and women in some form of authority like being a teacher, it actually does not promote this at all. Nadia goes on to elaborate on this fact as she states that it is a law which victimizes those that look like her and portray their religion like she does. She states that wearing hijab is her decision and that as an individual in society living in Canada, she should be allowed to live life and appear to others any way that she wishes to. These interviews which Nadia has done have been widely spread across Canada as she now has a great following which look up to her and agree that this bill is not one that betters Canada as a country and becoming more equal, instead it is punishing and more discriminating.
Another subject which was also discussed during these presentations were the murders of indigenous women and violence against all women as a whole in Canada. This speech Was very intense and the entire room was silent as it discussed cases of missing and murdered indigenous women, and the crisis of it getting worse and worse as years progress. This subject included facts about Indigenous women and their struggles In being victimized in society. Lucy Everett and Jen Gobby discussed both of these matters and introduced a couple women and even younger girls which have been killed from brutal attacks by racists and people which have a hatred for women like them. This presentation surprised me as I was not aware of this matter and it was a complete shock to see the amount of people and victims affected by this horrible tradegy which keeps on happening. This further proves the point of how stories and horrible events like this are pushed under the rug and forgotten about in society. These events must be broadcasdted and widely swpread throughout Canada to share their story and to feel protected by others as this is a great issue which needs to be stopped immediately. I definetly learned a lot from this presentation as it portrayed all struggles not only women go through, but also the struggles that certain nationalities of women go through, making the situation way worse and drastic. I think that these presentations over the past week greatly helped gain a better knowledge about women in Canada, and the issues which are pushed under the rug which need to be brought to light and spoken about in order to spark change for the better.
In Kimmel’s text on Masculinity, he discusses gender and its overall idea in society. The presentations during International Women’s Week discussed the same issues when looking at femininity and the female gender being seen as inferior, even to this day. This has been an ongoing issue from just looking at males and females. Kimmel also speaks on masculinity and says that there are many masculinities and not just one, as not all men are the same and act in the same way. Men are seen to act a certain type of way and to take on a role of being strong and not showing much emotion. This is the same way that women also are seen to act in a certain way in society as being the ones that should cook and clean and have the man in the house take care of bigger tasks. This has changed throughout the years as women have progressed and broken the barrier between male and females a little more than before. However, there is still a long way to go. I think that these presentations during International Women’s Week are important as they show how women in society have progressed into bigger roles, but there is still work to be done. I enjoyed attended them and I did learn more on women in general, along with the bigger issues which must be spoken about and spread throughout the entire world to hopefully help billions of women across the world to stand up for themselves and to be strong in times when strength is the hardest to have.
Lovers and Fighters | Section 22 