Gender Issues

As a member of the Senate, I am privileged and honoured to have a voice in making positive changes that will bring equality to more Canadians than ever before.  As a successful Asian woman, I feel I have a role to play in helping to promote the interests of women everywhere.

In assuming this responsibility, I follow in the footsteps of many determined women who came before me.  In fact, I owe a debt of gratitude to five women in particular: Nellie McClung, Emily Murphy, Henrietta Edwards, Louise McKinney, and Irene Parlby.  These women, who have come to be known as the "Famous Five", challenged the conventional interpretation of "personhood".  Up until 1929, this term applied only to men.  Since only "qualified persons" could be appointed by the Governor General to the Senate, women were persons only in the meting out of pain and penalties but not in the important matter of rights and privileges.  These women took their case all the way to the Privy Council in Great Britain where, on October 18, 1929, it was ruled that women were eligible for Senate appointments.  This was a major step toward equality for women in this country.

The influence of these five women continues through the work of the Famous Five Foundation, an organization which I support.  The Foundation recently erected monuments of the Famous Five in Calgary and in Ottawa.  They are also engaged in promoting the leaders of tomorrow - women who will act as role models for future generations.  It is hoped that the spirit of the Famous Five, living on in memory, will help to further the cause of gender equality.  

As the 21st century begins, how do we define "equality"?  For myself, it does not mean being the same as men, as some people have suggested.  As women, we should celebrate our differences.  Instead, it means having an equal opportunity to pursue our dreams.   Unfortunately, given the systemic inequalities that still exist in societies around the world, most women today don't have access to equal opportunity.  This is particularly true for women in many developing nations.  Ultimately, feminism has, until recent years, been defined as a white middle-class struggle. Non-white women in the rest of the world were left behind, suffering from discrimination based on their race, ethnicity, as well as their gender.

In the past twenty years, progress has been made.  For example, women now make up a third of the membership of the Senate in Canada.  However, much remains to be done.    Realistically, I know we still have a long way to go to achieve equality in the workplace and in the home.