All ages, genders join march to trumpet rights for women
Hundreds of people of all ages and genders came out to the Alberta legislature grounds Saturday to support women and their demand for equal rights.
“Women’s rights are human rights,” said Alison Poste, co-organizer of the March On Edmonton rally, which was held to commemorate the first anniversary of the 2017 women’s march in Washington, D.C., Edmonton and communities around the globe.
Since the first march there have been issues in the United States with rights being diminished, but the rise of the #MeToo and #Times Up movements have given voice to women who have been silenced for so long, said Poste.
Poste is happy the social media movements brought attention to women’s rights issues, but she wants to “go beyond the hashtag.”
“We want to say that it’s not enough to sit and march and chat, although all of those things are great,” said Poste.
“We need to get out and work in our individual communities for that change we wish to see,” she added.
Keltie Miller attended the rally with her eight-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son.
“One issue that’s come up because of what’s happening in the media and the #MeToo campaign is consent,” said Miller, who tries to talk about the issue in a way that is meaningful and makes sense to her children. “If you’re playing with somebody and they’re not having fun anymore, you need to listen to that and respect that.”
As her children grow and begin dating, Miller wants them to know they have permission to say no.
“You don’t have to just put up with it. Use your voice. You don’t have to be polite.”
Along with consent, marchers pointed to domestic and sexual violence, access to child care and
pay equity as issues that still need to be addressed.
“Equal pay for me is such a huge issue,” said Jes McCoy. “Receiving the goods of your work in society as equally as men is a really basic way to feel as if you have equal power and equal say.
“That’s something that so easily could be legislated, so easily could be enforced, so easily could be dealt with and it’s just not, because it’s just not.”
While a lot of people have begun to lose hope, Poste says, it’s necessary to celebrate the little successes along the way.
“We had more women than ever run for city council in this past election and even though we still have only two female councillors, that’s one more than we had before.”
Adds activist Mimi Williams: “We have to understand that some battles take a lifetime.”