Walk a Mile in Her Shoes

I will start off by saying I should have posted this during the 16 Days. I've mentioned before that one of the things I really like about my job is the fact that I get to go to cool events and hear awesome people speak. So - I got to attend "Because I Am A Girl" launch in Ottawa. The project is the brainchild of Plan International that looks to highlight the plight but also the resilience of girls globally. The campaign's goal is to empower and improve the lives of girls and women - in an aim for gender equity - and it is frankly... awesome. The campaign has been running for 5 years now, and this year it is on "So, What About Boys?" It's really great - and everyone should check out the BIAAG reports and resources. But I digress. The real reason I wanted to write is because at this event I had the fortune of sitting beside the Executive Director of the White Ribbon Campaign. An organisation that encourages men to help stop violence against women. It's an incredible organisation that I was aware of in a Canadian context, but I had no idea that the campaign was global. It's actually in about 60 countries (I may have counted wrong... I should never work with numbers). So check out them because they are doing fantastic work to recognise the role that men can play in fighting violence against women and breaking down barriers to gender equity. On a related note I also wanted to post this video from Simon Fraser University's Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies department taking part in the Walk a Mile in Her Shoes Campaign to fight violence against women (featuring such notable personalities as David Suzuki and the Mayor of Vancouver, Greg Robertson) Men raise money for to stop gender based violence by literally walking a mile in pumps. These events are happening all over the place and you can see if one is happening in your area on the webpage's calendar. I tell you - I always thought David Suzuki was pretty dreamy. And then I saw him in stilettos... In other news - I have been really poor about posting for this year. It's mostly a combination of being unenthused with life and also taking up writing as a job. Basically the last thing I want to do after work is write more words on paper. Hopefully that will change soon.