International Women’s Day, created in the early 1900s, came about as an effort to recognize and give value to the struggle of women in achieving equality and independence. Over the years, the way we view that struggle has changed drastically and often for the worse. What once was seen as a noble fight for equality has of late been perverted by the idea that there exists only the status quo, and a sort of hyper-feminism which maintains that the only way to lift women up is to put men down. Because this perspective is so divisive, it often outweighs initiatives that are built with hard work, understanding, and a belief that equality need not be a fight for dominance between the genders, but instead a cooperative effort bringing society together.

Debuted here — to mark International Women’s Day March 8 —  are some amazing women who have through their efforts made life better in one way or another for both women as a gender and society as a whole. They have dug into their hearts and brought out compassion. They have lifted up. They have improved. In their own unique ways, they have made life better.

Shashi Assanand

Shashi is the Executive Director of Metro Vancouver’s Multicultural Family Support Services Society, an outreach service for Canadian newcomers.

Her approach to family violence is that it’s not ethno-specific.

Rather, she says, “the problem exists all around the world.” Solving this problem is not a “one size fits all.”

Shashi’s main areas of concern are women and children. One of her recent workshops was about discipline versus child abuse and what the terms mean in different cultures.

“My vision for non-violence is the strength of family” she says. “One where husband and wife are two wheels that keep the family together. If one wheel is weak – it won’t work.”

To Shashi however, the bigger issue is family stability.

She sympathizes with parents worried about their children growing up in a society where they face conflicting values in different arenas of their lives – home, school, social networks.

She suggests  the best thing to do is keep an open channel with your loved ones and to treat your son’s and daughters equally; neither too much control or too little.

“For me, International Women’s Day is everyday.” she says. “Collectively we can work together to improve.”

Rita Sarin

On the 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day, we must look beyond local causes and movements to those in other countries. In the press of charities and organizations across the globe, The Hunger Project, with its Indian division headed by Rita Sarin, should be well noted.

Sarin completed studies in sociology and spent time as a university teacher before taking a job in 1978 with the Center for Women’s Development Studies. She then traveled to the U.K. to study development policies for developing nations before returning to India in 1987 and working with the Swedish International Development Authority. She joined The Hunger Project in 2001.

While the goal of  The Hunger Project seems similar to many other NGO’s on the world stage, the methods it employs are quite different. Rather than focusing on getting supplies to rural areas or donating sums of money, The Hunger Project has instead decided to focus on women’s leadership roles in village panchayats (councils), where women have suddenly been thrust in accordance with new Indian laws requiring equal gender representation.

Rita and the organization build and nurture confidence in these neophyte ‘politicians,’ giving them the resources and training to work within the current system and affect change in their larger societies through sheer grit and determination. If we can spread these beliefs that society can be improved and that women can improve the world around them rather than being passive to it, we can truly be a contributor to the spirit and agenda of International Women’s Day.

Alice Lee

Alice Lee is a first-generation immigrant who grew up in Saskatchewan. She is the second-youngest of seven children. When she moved to this country, she had expected to be treated differently and had understood that she would perhaps even face a certain amount of racism. But she hadn’t realized the degree of sexism she would have to face from both her family and society, or how differently she would be treated from her brothers. It was this frustration with the biases women face that drove her to her current career with the Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter.

Alice, who has a business degree, worked at the National Institute of the Blind, before changing paths to work at the shelter.

“The position was far more interesting than working at a business,” she tells the Post. “It is more compelling than anything else I’ve done previously.”

Alice says her work at the shelter is important to many and she feels like she is making an important contribution to society.

“Every 17 minutes a women is raped” says Alice.

This year marks the 35th anniversary of the Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter, making it the oldest such shelter in Canada. Beside the transition houses it has founded and run, the shelter has also joined many other fights, including better income, childcare issues, poverty and welfare rates.

While International Women’s day is important, says Alice, she is quick to point out that abuse happens all year round. She encourages people, both men and women, old and young, to join the organization, to donate time and money and to write to editors politicians to express their concerns.

“Often we can help simply by keeping the lines of communication open and taking care to keep our friends safe and connected,” she says. Indeed, we must take care of each other.