Happy International Women’s Day! Some Torontonians will be celebrating this remarkable day by marching for a cause.
Happy International Women’s Day! Some Torontonians will be celebrating this remarkable day by marching for a cause.
International Women’s Day dates back to 1908, when 15,000 women marched across New York City demanding voting rights, as well as working rights, including shorter hours and wage increases.
For over 100 years since then, Women’s Day has been celebrated on Mar. 8 to appreciate the efforts and successes of past, present and future women, and shine a light on the need to keep advancing women’s rights.
The Government of Canada has announced that this year’s International Women’s Day theme is “strength in every story,” and focuses on celebrating women “who continue to face barriers to success.”
Meanwhile, here at home in Toronto, the International Women’s Day Rally and March, organized by the IWD Organizing Committee, Women Working with Immigrant Women and several activists, celebrates the date by marching across the city.
This year, the march will begin at the OISE auditorium at 252 Bloor St. W, at 11 a.m., and will end at Nathan Phillips Square at 100 Queen St. W.
Now Toronto spoke with Anna Liu, a spokesperson for the event’s organizing committee, who said that this year’s theme is “fighting for our lives, building our resistance.”
According to Liu, this theme was inspired by issues around equity rights that have gained more strength since the U.S. President Donald Trump got into office, pushing agendas against Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) efforts and anti-discrimination laws.
“The issue around the pushback against equity, against trans rights, against the rights and the scapegoating that we’ve seen against immigrants and migrants and this sentiment we have already seen,” she said. “There’s been such a regression of the equity agenda and in the U.S., and we are just bracing ourselves to see the ripple effect coming north of the border.”
Liu believes that given the relevance of the theme, there will be a notable turnout at the march this year.
“We really need to take to the streets this year to demonstrate and speak up about our concerns with just the state of the struggles that working people—working women—are going through, and the attack on equity that we are seeing,” she said.
TORONTONIANS SPEAK ON THE IMPORTANCE OF WOMEN’S DAY
In preparation for this remarkable day, Now Toronto spoke to Torontonians about the importance and meaning of the date.
For some residents, the day is a good opportunity to celebrate the women in their lives and what they love the most about women.
“Something that inspires me about being a woman is… standing in my power, feeling confident in who I am, [and] holding up other women alongside me,” one local said.
“What is there not to love about women? I know the women in my life have made me the man who I am today. And my fiancé, my mother, my grandmother, they all poured into me,” another passerby said.
Other residents pointed out that while it is exciting to have a celebration revolving around women, it is essential to remember the historic importance of this date and demonstrate support for women throughout the entire year.
“Women haven’t held power and their voice since the dawn of time. So, I think it’s important to stand up, speak our truth and stand up and let the matriarch start really shining the light and leading the way,” one local said to Now Toronto.
“I think there’s an invisibility to being a woman, almost,” another resident said. “I think women are not celebrated enough. It’s important but I still don’t think that people celebrate it as much as they should. But I guess I’ll take a day.”
