This past weekend, I overheard a telephone conversation between my 6-year old daughter and her dad. He was watching a documentary about Ruth Bader Ginsburg and was explaining who she is and her work. Here is some of what he said (I’m paraphrasing): “Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a lawyer. When she …
Gender
What’s Privilege got to do with it? – Part 4
For the last installment of the series, I have two more common examples of privilege to share. Both are based specifically on identities: race and gender. The first example is thanks to Hadiya Roderique, who wrote an amazing article for the Globe and Mail last weekend entitled Black on Bay …
[Continue reading] What’s Privilege got to do with it? – Part 4
Mother’s Day – Not Necessarily “Happy”
This coming Sunday, May 14th is Mother’s Day in North America (and possibly also elsewhere). Whether you appreciate the commercialism or not, for some women, it will be a day where they are wrapped in the warm embrace of family, reminded of the many reasons they are loved by their …
Marching for Change
Women's Marches This past weekend, thousands of women around the world took to the streets to show their protest against the new President of the USA, their commitment to each other, and their solidarity towards the other groups also targeted by him during his campaign. It gave me pause to …
Bias in Olympic Coverage
The Olympics are a perfect place to sit back and watch how (unconscious?) bias filters in to reporting. Consider who is shown on the podium and who is not. Consider who is getting airtime and who is not. Consider how we talk about athletes, and who we hear about (and who we don’t). Consider who …
Barbie and Diversity
It’s 2016 and we finally have a more realistic? representative? diverse? Barbie. I don’t know if I should applaud or cry…. After 58 years (37 if you count the African American and Hispanic Barbie that appeared in 1980), Barbie is finally being released in a few body type options: …
Which Women Have Arrived?
I recently attended the Regional Diversity Roundtable’s event “It’s 2015: Which Women have Arrived?” It was an interesting and thought-provoking evening. One of the speakers was Sandeep Tatla – Chief Diversity Officer from the Ontario College of Trades. Here were a few statistics Sandeep …
Why the Oscars are White
Last year was the first year I remember there being a wide unrest about the "colour" of the Oscars. Hashtags abounded. This year, there has been a stir as well - including an amazing video by Jada Pinkett Smith where she talks about it maybe being time to stop asking to be included, because it makes …
Sexual Harassment and Intersectionality
Thanks to Jian Ghomeshi, there has been a lot of talk over the past two weeks about sexual violence and sexual harassment. It’s good that we are talking about it. Yesterday I caught the tail end of an interview on CBC radio about sexual harassment in the workplace, and why women don’t come …
Women as “testers”?
The Women’s World Cup is being held across Canada next year. Apparently the decision was made to use Astroturf fields instead of grass. The reason? FIFA wanted to “test it out”. Hmmm...I wonder why they didn’t see fit to test it out THIS year during the World Cup? It’s a decision (and a defense) …