Braving the bone-chilling cold women, men and children took to the streets in downtown North Bay walking in solidarity with women and allies in communities around the globe to mark the 4th Annual Women’s March.
“This includes all women; transgender folks, non-binary, and two-spirited indigenous as well. We are here to celebrate how far we’ve come for human rights for women and allies,” said one of the event organizers, Kylee Bakowski of Amelia Rising Sexual Violence Support Centre.
“We’re here to raise awareness. We’re marching for women across the world also. We’re marching for human rights and bodily autonomy that can include sexual reproduction, health rights, and consent.”
Bakowski says the message is clear, more needs to be done.
“We march to celebrate how far we’ve come, but also to recognize how far we have to go. We need to continue to have a presence in the community and remind people that there are women today that are still having gender-based and sexual-based violence against them. It is also to recognize that we’re not perfect and we still need to strive to make changes in our community,” said Bakowski.
“I think it is really important that men, and allies together, attend the march with us because even though you may not be physically perpetuating sexual violence or gender-based violence, not acting out against it or speaking out against it when certain comments are made in the workplace or jokes among friends if you don’t say something, then you’re also helping to perpetuate that violence. So, it is really important to have allies here today and stand united.”
Marchers were asked to remember the missing and murdered indigenous women.
“We can and we must do better by respecting, listening and supporting our indigenous community, and looking to them for guidance in truth in reconciliation. This conversation can not happen without them,” said Bakowski.
See: Local Women's March for peace, freedom, and inclusion
It was important for Erika Lougheed to bring her eight your old daughter Audrey to the march.
“I think that it is important for her to understand that it is okay to stand up and it is okay to seek out. And those are often qualities that aren’t valued in women in general,” explained Lougheed.
The cold and blowing snow were not enough to stop people from coming out and showing by example the strength and resiliency that is part of the female identity.
“I think that this day is actually a fantastic representation of the adversity that many women and individuals face on a daily basis by virtue of their gender. Women are so tough, we really are. And the fact that as a whole, people think we aren’t and that we are more of a subversive group is anything but the case. I think standing together, across the world showing solidarity for the inequity that women face across the world is really an important thing to do.”
