Street Level

"I am woman, hear me roar,
In numbers too big to ignore,
And I know too much to go back an’ pretend,
‘cause I’ve heard it all before,
And I’ve been down there on the floor,
No one’s ever gonna keep me down again."

Yeah, right.
Helen Reddy may have sang those words 37 years ago, but just how far have women really come?
What would the Famous Five — Emily Murphy, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Nelly McClung, Louise McKinny and Irene Parlby — have to say today, eight decades after they fought and fought and kept on fighting to have all women declared persons?
How would these valiant trailblazers feel if they knew that, in this new century, when women get to vote and fight in wars, we still have people like Carrie Prejean, the controversial U.S. beauty queen, fighting with pageant organizers about paying to have her boobs pumped up.
She’s not fighting about whether it should happen. Oh no, those organizers agreed she needed bigger breasts to be competitive in their pageant.
Didn’t we start fighting back in the 1960s against this kind of objectifying?
How would these incredible women feel if they knew that, in this new century, when women get to sit in the Senate and on councils and school boards, we still have people like Mayumi Heene ignore police advice to seek protection in a women’s shelter after they saw the balloon boy’s mom had broken blood vessels in her eye and abrasions on her face?
She’s standing by her man, instead, a father and husband who is under investigation for putting his own ego and absurd beliefs ahead of the safety of his family.
How would these early feminists feel if they knew Canada is being led by a man who considers women to be a left-wing fringe group?
Dozens of women gathered on Oct. 23rd here in Kamloops to reassure themselves strides have been made as a celebratory breakfast is held to mark the anniversary of Person’s Day.
They listened to Mary Eberts, a co-founder of the Legal Education and Action Fund for Women, speak at the Plaza Heritage Hotel at the event, co-sponsored by LEAF, the Elizabeth Fry Society and the Thompson Rivers University Student Union’s women’s collective.
Eberts has said Canadian women have “a special historical relationship to the Constitution, as we had to fight so hard for so long to be included in even its minimal provisions.
“Let us not stop now.”
Inspiring words, but I wonder what is wrong with a society that, almost a century after the fight began, is still fighting for these basic recognitions and still has within its midst women who embrace beliefs that minimize them as persons?
My friend Shirley Sanderson says education is the key. It’s why today’s breakfast has a reduced ticket price ($25) for students and why she’s delighted the TRU women’s group is involved.
It’s why she gets involved in things like the breakfast, because she believes it’s important to look at the past and honour our elders who laid the groundwork to make a better future.
Earlier this month, the Famous Five were declared honorary senators at the suggestion of veteran journalist Catherine Ford.
It’s a worthy tribute but, in reality, it will do little to further their cause.
I’ve always thought the solution to this inability to move forward comes from the need to characterize women who stand up for themselves as feminists.
This was hammered home for me many years ago when, while working at another newspaper in Ontario and being interviewed for a more-senior job there, the manager asking the questions — a woman — told me to forget it because, as a wife and mother, I wasn’t a feminist.
At the time, those words made me angry. Today, I realize she was right.
I’m not a feminist.
I’m a wife, a mother, a grandmother.
And I’m a person.

And now, comments that were posted on kamloopsthisweek.com to the column (I thought I'd try adding these things once in a while):

12GaugePump 16 hours ago
Some people just have no sense of humour.....and to Mrs. Bass, you are a feminist and also a socialist who never passes up a chance to bash a conservative.


smokit 1 day ago 1 person liked this.
With men running the world, (and jokes like Grouchy makes), it's a true case of "The Tail wagging the dog" if you get my drift...


Grouchy1 1 day ago in reply to smokit
Sorry smokit, I just couldn't help myself, lol.


Grouchy1 2 days ago
I think you have gone a little far about the Prime Minister. The other example is truly extreme and should not happen in todays society. Other than that I think that women have come a long way, just look at businesses with women in charge,and women starting more and more of their own businesses all the time. And just as an aside, more than a mouthfull is a waste. LOL.


BobbyDuck 2 days ago
Oh, I think you're also a feminist, dbass. One thing people seem to forget, as long as we have males and females on this planet, the battle of the sexes will ALWAYS be a contentious issue..

Posted by Dale at 11:00 a.m. Comments