Hot Tubbin' For Justice

The Power of Breaking Barriers: Systemic Change, Individual Gains Dr. Natalia Kenem, the Executive Director of the UN Population Fund introduced and set the context for this panel. She said that women belong at the centre of development. Population isn't just about numbers it's about people's lives. As we take global stock of what's happening in the world, when everyone awakens, mountains will move.  And there is movement, and we'll hear from the following panelists on how we are moving toward progress and change. Panel: Shahira Amin - Independent Journalist (moderator) Dr. Alvaro Bermejo - International Planned Parenthood Waneek Horn-Miller - Indigenous Olympian Hina Jilani - Supreme Court of Pakistan Musola Catherine Kaseketi - Vilole Images Productions Nancy Northrup - Centre for Reproductive Rights Lina Abirafeh, PhD - The Arab Institute for Women at the Lebanese American University Anoka Primrose - Social Entrepreneur Nancy Northrup from t...

The Power of Integration and Scale: Driving Big Global Social Change This plenary was opened by remarks from the President of the Republic of Kenya His Excellency Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta. Kenya is focusing their policies and legislation on women's rights. He said that good leadership is drawn from the aspirations of the population and it must include all in its population. There is an economic, political and moral imperative to centre women and girls in government policy. He ran through the list of things Kenya is doing: enact the first policy to that is focused on pre and post-natal care $480 million USD investment in maternity services and child immunizations reserve 30% of all government procurement for women, youth and the disabled (in the form of credit and training) moving towards the elimination of gender-based violence and female genital mutilation "gender mainstreaming" - to lift women out of poverty, improve illiteracy levels and cure diseases to st...

The Power of Agency: Changemakers on Surviving and preventing gender-based violence Ok it was pretty cool to walk back into a plenary session at a conference to see a special video message from Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern. She's so earnest. I became aware of her when she became the first woman in New Zealand to give birth in office and then like the rest of the world, was captivated by her leadership after the Christchurch massacre.  The thing that stuck with me the most (I was starving and wolfing down a burrito while she was talking) was her statement that women have the right to be themselves in politics. That we don't have to change who we are or how we play the game. That resonated with me and how I navigate union politics in all of the roles I have in the labour movement. Now it's time for the plenary to start. This time it's not a panel discussion but a series of speakers. I really am aware how intersectional and global the sessions at ...

The three host nations open the Women Deliver Conference - thank you to the matriarchs of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil Waututh nations. The Power of Us: Opening Plenary Katja Iversen - Women Deliver After a moving and energetic welcome by the host nations - Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil Waututh, the President and CEO of Women Deliver, Katja Iversen, welcomed everyone to Vancouver at the opening of Women Deliver 2019. She told us that there were 8000 delegates (4000+ in the room) from 165 countries. The conference delegation included 1400 young leaders from around the world and an estimated 100k people participating in satellite events around the world!  She implored us to take advantage of all of the programming options - from plenary sessions, workshops, social events, 150 exhibitor booths, power talks, digital poster sessions, virtual reality films, short films and culture night! The program was bold and intense, with the goal of creating, fostering, and sustai...

I attended the 5th Annual Rosemary Brown Memorial Conference at the Wosk Centre for Dialogue at SFU this past weekend where the hot topic of Women in Politics: Risks and Opportunities was on point.  The Asia Pacific Hall at the Wosk Centre is really cool. It's in the shape of a circle, with the intent of fostering dialogue and discourse. My friend Michele and I got good seats and we sat down and nerded out whilst getting our respective notebooks out to take our requisite handwritten notes of the session.  Rosemary Brown is an incredible figure in Canadian history. She was the first black woman to be elected to the BC legislature in 1972. She was the first black woman to run for leadership of the NDP in 1975. From 1993-1996 she was the Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission. Was bestowed the Order of BC in 1995 and the Order of Canada in 1996. She was known for her community service, her committee to equality and her compassion.  Dr. Marjorie Gr...