Today is International Women’s Day (IWD), and as I cruised through Facebook, Twitter, and news articles I am left with a sense of comfort and inspiration, but an equally matched sense of wonder. You see, we support women everyday in-house and outreach and we are staffed fully by women. Individually and collectively, we are inspired by some changes over the years, and especially by the mobilization of communities (i.e. around the recent judges decision in Halifax), and we are equally frustrated by the limitations and fluidity of movement of women within our culture and issues that shadow progression to feelings of safety.
In our world, everyday is IWD – we celebrate the strength, courage and determination it requires for a woman to access supports before, during or after impacts of partner violence occur. We support her to reclaim her authenticity and defining who she is, now that she is in a position to redefine her direction.
Everyday is IWD when I look at the faces of the women who compose this team; women that work so diligently to support, encourage and be strong beside the women we are privileged to meet as they deal with trauma, change and setting down their new roots. In their faces is knowledge, compassion and inclusivity.
So the conversations around IWD, need to be continued everyday, not just today.