MY VIEW ON INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY By Johna

     I attended International Women’s Day with CCESO last year and I had a good time. We started the day with a big breakfast at a café and strolled downtown to the Rally and March. The excitement and camaraderie with friends were the same things I was looking forward to this year.

     This year I joined CCESO again to celebrate IWD on Saturday March 6, 2010. Before the march started, I was a little bit hesitant and shy about being exposed to the public. Hundreds of people would be marching from St. George and Bloor to Ryerson University. For me, rallying down the street was “not my cup of tea”…or so I thought. 

     During the march, I heard the voice of a woman in front of us yelling, “What do we want?”
People responded, “Equal rights!”
Then the woman asked, “When do we want it?”
And people shouted, “Now!”

     This reminded me of something my Theology teacher once said, “The right to life is to have equal rights to live”.  This gave me courage. 

     I asked myself, Why should I be ashamed to participate in this movement? Why should I be ashamed to show to people that women have unique power and strength?

     For every individual, regardless of their identity deserves to be respected and given equal rights and opportunity in this society. This gives me the boldness to show the world who I really am and to go for what I want, even when people are doubting me, because we humans, are basically the same and equal, and not one of us is better than the other.