The Gender Files

If I had to pick a must-read book from those I've read this year, it'd be  Feminism for Real: Deconstructing the Academic Industrial Copy of Feminism, edited by Jessica Yee, a  "Two Spirit multi-racial Indigenous hip hop feminist reproductive justice freedom fighter," who founded the Native Youth Sexual Health Network.

I read a lot. But this book has been more important for changing how I think about my feminist activism than all the books I've read in the last year combined. You can read some preview excerpts at the Canadian Centre of Policy Alternatives' website (they're also the book's publishers), but I would encourage you to buy the book and read the whole thing for yourself.

For the past four years, Edelman Vancouver, an independent public firm, has been launching an incredible corporate social responsibilty contest for local non profits called the Little Give.

Little Give provides three nonprofit organizations a multi-disciplinary Edelman team for 48 hours of public relations and social media creation and development, as well as $2500 in aid.  Little Give has been so successful that their Montreal and Toronto offices have jumped on board to take part.

This year, my organization, Passion Foundation was one of the three winners, along with PALS Autism School and St James Music Academy of the DTES.

On International Women’s Day this year, Linda McQuaig -- 
journalist and best-selling co-author of The Trouble with Billionaires -- wondered how a hedge fund manager could earn 82,000 times as much as a nurse. Is he really working 82,000 times as hard, or contributing 82,000 times as much to society?

If the answer is “no”, pay equity is designed to even out the discrepancies. Simply put, pay equity reflects the right to equal pay for work of equal value.

Buy pay equity legislation is determined by federal and provincial governments, who are in turn affected by various groups with power and influence, the democratic will of the electorate and changing political priorities.

While provinces have made some progress, the Canadian government has consistently failed in achieving equal pay for Canadian citizens.

On April 3, over 1000 protesters took to the streets of Toronto as part of an event called SlutWalk. The event was created to protest a comment made by a Toronto Police representative, who, speaking to York University students, asserted: “women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized”.