International Women's Day

Commemorating IWD this year felt really, really insane given the intense hypocrisy of our government, the total erasure of certain women from political platforms aimed at “helping women,” and my own complicity in this horror. Feminism must be intersectional and include queer, trans, BIPOC women and sex workers. Canada, for all that it crows about being a bastion of progressive human rights, is just as much at risk of backsliding. We cannot be complacent. I even broke the seal on drawing terrible, terrible caricatures of politicians for this, which means I am angry >:(

Instead of lying in a dark room and fighting with people on the internet, I directed my energy towards three vital causes:

1. I was honoured to illustrate a series of graphics for one of the UNFPA’s IWD 2024 campaigns. Not that I need to say it, but the UNFPA does absolutely essential work for women experiencing gender-based violence and discrimination and a lack of access to health care all over the world, including lifesaving medical evacuations and maternal care on the ground in Gaza, Yemen, Mali, the DRC, Ukraine, etc.

   

   

2. I donated a painting to West Coast LEAF’s annual fundraiser and silent auction, the Equality Breakfast. West Coast LEAF is a not-for-profit in BC striving to end gender discrimination through equality rights litigation, law reform, and public legal education. Recently, they achieved a landmark settlement that will dramatically expand the province’s chronically underfunded legal aid system and make a world of difference to people (largely women and children) experiencing family violence. As a lawyer, 90% of my clients came through the legal aid system, and many of them were at-risk women experiencing family violence - it was a constant fight to try to secure additional funding for protracted disputes, or to negotiate to have people financially qualify without having to liquidate their retirement accounts. This settlement is a step towards increased dignity and safety during such a difficult process.

   

   this found a nice new home

3. I made a donation (and ongoing donations) to the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre, which provides essential services, including meals, counseling, advocacy, shelter and programs for self-identifying women in the DTES, and works to educate the general public and advance systemic change for women in the area.

I am extremely grateful to live where I live. How safe and self-actualized you are in life is largely a lottery of where, and to whom, you are lucky enough to be born. AND, I can still demand more from those in power. Care for women, care for each other, advocate for a better future where *everyone is safer.*

xo Zoe