By Caryn Duncan

Each year, women around the world commemorate International Women’s Day (March 8) by celebrating, protesting, and advocating for women’s rights. Women celebrate the day in many varied ways: by sharing a meal, spending an evening together, or planning a special event. Some women join in protest through marches, rallies, or at workshops. Whatever the activity, women continue to celebrate each other and their accomplishments, in spite of the recent setbacks to women’s equality.

Some people think that women and men have attained equality in Canada. Yes, women have made huge academic gains. Women can also now make their own decisions about their bodies. These are important achievements that women have won through advocacy, protest, and years of hard work. But disparities remain.

There are many independent indicators that chronicle the inequalities, including Statistics Canada reporting on women’s average annual incomes, and the rate at which single mothers, aboriginal women, and senior women live in poverty. And there are other measures, like the unbalanced composition of the House of Commons and provincial legislatures, the low number of women CEOs at major corporations, and the few women who sit on the boards of Canadian banks. So, what do we need to do to address these participation rates and the overall status of women in Canadian society?

The ideas are not new—but they do require political will and action. Affordable, quality child care; livable welfare rates; a higher minimum wage; increased unionization; adequate housing; women working with other women to end violence against women; women’s participation in the electoral process; and women setting provincial and federal budgets with women in mind—all would make a big difference to the status of women in society.

And women forging alliances with men who support these goals is essential.

In recent months, with the severe downturn in the global economy, politicians are telling us that this is not the time to increase the minimum wage or introduce affordable, quality child care. But when the economy was growing, and year after year federal and provincial governments were running huge surpluses, it was also not the time. I wonder when the time will come.

Consider this. A few years ago, when times were relatively good, the B.C. government increased Medical Services Plan premiums and eliminated coverage of complementary therapies, eye examinations, and physiotherapy. Because women have less disposable income, often do not have extended health benefits, and value complementary health care, the government’s decisions surrounding MSP affected women’s lives differently than men’s. Was consideration given to the impact that increased premiums and reduced services would have on women?

Every decision that a government makes must be weighed in light of its impact on women. If this were done, there would be advances in women’s access to programs and services that meet their needs. This would be good for women, but it would also be good for their families and for the community—for all of us.

This spring, the Vancouver Women’s Health Collective will open Lu’s: A Pharmacy for Women, co-located with a women’s health resource centre, at 29 West Hastings Street in Vancouver. Three years of hard work under the stewardship of many committed women—and with the support of men—will see the VWHC realize the dream of operating a women’s pharmacy in the Downtown Eastside. This is a huge accomplishment and is in response to women’s desire to fill a prescription and receive confidential and respectful health care in a women-centred setting. It is important to celebrate accomplishments like this while at the same time recognizing that much work remains to be done.

I will be celebrating women’s accomplishments on International Women’s Day. For those of you who don’t mark the day, I encourage you to do something for yourself, with your daughter, mother, or your women friends. For 365 days of the year women and men live, work and play together—let’s take one day to celebrate the women in our lives.

Caryn Duncan is the executive director of the Vancouver Women’s Health Collective.

The Straight is publishing a series of International Women's Day-related commentaries on-line in the lead-up to March 8.

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