Women from Pictou County are marching once more this Saturday to celebrate the ongoing fight against sexism and mark one year of resistance against Donald Trump.
The 2018 March On Canada is taking place in both Halifax and Lunenburg, building on the success of last year’s worldwide Women’s March, which drew millions onto the streets against both Trump’s agenda and sexism in general. Fourteen marches are planned this year in Canada.
“I think that we are stronger together when we support one another’s right for basic equality and gender equality. That’s how we build healthy communities,” said Shelley Curtis-Thompson, executive director of the Pictou County Women’s Resource and Sexual Assault Centre, who will be attending the Halifax march.
Over the past year, Pictou County women have made steady advances with the centre’s help.
In 2017 the centre launched Map Our Road to Power and Healing, a local partnership with the Centre for Sexual Health, police, government and other organizations to help assault survivors.
Curtis-Thompson said that under MORPH, the centre offers a part-time therapist and navigator to help women access needed services.
Another key plank of MORPH is awareness and education, including over harrowing issues such as human trafficking.
“It’s significant that the survivors of sexual violence have a program that provides an opportunity to come together with other survivors and be supported in the healing journey,” said Curtis-Thompson.
However, there is still much work to do before women have full equality, both in Pictou County and around the world.
Harassment and misogyny are problems worldwide, but the #MeToo movement has finally started to topple powerful abusers such as Harvey Weinstein.
Donald Trump, whose election sparked last year’s Women’s March, was caught on film crudely boasting about sexually assaulting women. The current president has faced other accusations of harassment and assault.
While the #MeToo movement has highlighted the problem of sexist violence and harassment, the problem has not gone away.
Women from First Nations, African Nova Scotian, or other minority communities remain especially prone to not only violence, but also workplace discrimination, unemployment and poverty.
Another key issue is pay equality, with women still consistently earning less than men in the same job, despite decades of progress in other areas, according to Georgia Barnwell at the province-wide Women’s Centres Connects! network.
Rural women in Pictou County and elsewhere in the province also face limited resources and opportunities, compared to their urban counterparts.
“I don’t think life has really improved for them over the last 50 years,” said Barnwell.
Nonetheless, both Barnwell and Curtis-Thompson remained optimistic in the run-up to this year’s march.
“We’re going to pause and think and celebrate all these voices,” said Curtis-Thompson.
