feminism

With abortion back on the front pages, I am reproducing here a tribute from legendary feminist columnist Michele Landsberg to a hero of the pro-choice movement Norma Scarborough.  It was delivered at a recent memorial to Norma, who died last year,

"Our dear friend Norma was the queen of the unexpected, the doyenne of the doubletake. When I first saw her on the television news, in the mid-‘80s, I was astonished by the vision: in defiance of a mob of yelling protesters, mostly male, all looking as thuggish and menacing as Mike Harris, there stood Norma –calm, sturdily mainstream, unflustered, with her crown of glistening white hair, introduced as a mother of five and a grandmother of multitudes. She spoke in cheerfully moderate tones about a woman’s right to reproductive choice, as though it were the most natural and sensible thing in the world, which, of course, it is.

It is International Women’s Day 2010, forty years after the Report of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women. A generation has passed, my generation. In some ways, there has been a revolution in the status of women since that time. 

Yesterday when I heard that Stephen Harper was suddenly taken with a desire to promote maternal health as the key issue for the G8, I have to admit to being perplexed.  I don't think I've ever heard Harper talk about women's issues. Behind the scenes his government, which of course means him, has not only cut funding to most women's groups and the most progressive NGOs like Alternatives and Kairos but have eliminated the word "equality" from their women's bureau.  Harper is no doubt that most anti-feminist PM we have ever had.

 Like almost every woman and many men I know, December 6 1989 was a day I will never forget. I heard the news on the radio in my car.   I guess I was driving home from work. It was that time of day.

 On May 12, British Columbians will vote in a referendum on electoral reform that will have an enormous impact across Canada. They are raising money online to put the ad on TV

Day before yesterday still in a bit of a reverie after more than 24 hours without television, radio or newspapers in my friends' beautiful house in the bush near Victoria I was awakened on the ferry into Vancouver by an astonishing call.  Sandra Martin from the Globe and Mail asked me, "Judy, is it possible to be a feminist and be anti-war?"  What?

One of the most talented young activists I know, Jessica Yee sent me this inspiring declaration from Rio entitled "Engaging Men and Boys on Achieving Gender Equality.  Excerpt and full text here too.

We are here because we know that the time when women stood alone in speaking out against discrimination and violence – that this time is coming to an end.

We also know this: This belief in the importance of engaging men and boys is no longer a remote hope. We see the emergence of organizations and campaigns that are directly involving hundreds of thousands, millions of men in almost every country on the planet. We hear men and boys speaking out against violence, practicing safer sex, and supporting women’s and girl’s reproductive rights. We see men caring, loving, and nurturing for other men and for women. We see men who embrace the daily challenges of looking after babies and children, and delight in their capacity to be nurturers. We see many men caring for the planet and rejecting conquering nature just as men once conquered women.
 

I dedicated my last book Ten Thousand Roses: The Making of a Feminist Revolution to Norma Scarborough, a fierce and committed pro-choice fighter and an unlikely friend to me.  Norma died last week, as she lived, making her own decisions.   She had been in paliative care long enough and refused to take any more medication.  Her daughter let me know but the day I was supposed to visit and say good-bye I was felled by food poisoning so this will have to be my good bye.  

Imagine my delight when there on the front page of my morning paper was Medea Benjamin, the creative, non-stoppable leader of Code Pink.  Just having returned from leading a feminist mission to Gaza for International Women's Day,  Medea and her fearless crew of pink clad women were protesting the appearance of the CEO of AIG.  The contrast between the designer suit clad AIG boss and the women with Pink T Shirts saying, "Give us back our $$$' couldn't have been clearer. Speaking for millions of Americans, this was direct action at its best.  Bravo Sisters.

March 8 is International Women’s Day but in Toronto, it is the Saturday closest to March 8 that we celebrate and as I usually do I went to the rally and march that has been held every year since 1975. On Sunday March 8, I had lunch with my friend Velcrow on Toronto Island, where he lives.