I miss those days, sometimes, but in my contemporary life, attending to women's lives takes a different form. It is trying to ensure that women's experiences are reflected in the work we do - and that "women's" experiences are treated as the complex matters they are. In our older adults project, for example, one of the issues we might identify is what happens when older immigrant women, some of whom have lived their lives primarily within their own cultural or ethnic community, need to enter a nursing home. There are not many culturally specific nursing homes in Ontario. In our vulnerable employees project, we are looking at the gendered nature of precarious work as it is manifested in part-time work or in the federal migrant worker programs for domestic workers and homeworkers.
We used to march and strategize about childcare - still an issue. We marched about women's employment - still some of the same issues, but also some new ones. Violence against women must still be part of the agenda. This IWD women are talking about the same things they were talking about 20 or 30 years ago. We are also talking about more women in education, increased numbers in the corporate sphere (even if not enough) and other advances. More than that, though, I suspect that for many women, there is a different tone. We were, in public, at least, a pretty serious group (although we had lots of opportunities to have a good time!). The York events today, organized by the Centre for Women and Trans People, are described as including "alternative media, Wen Do, indigenous solidarity, gender and race through the art of plays, anti-oppression, a men's discussion group, popular theatre, digital storytelling and more! All workshops will be focused on celebrating women and girls, and promise to be fun!". All intergenerational perceptions about women's lives today aside, that's good to see.
