Last week many of us around the globe observed International Women's Day in one form or another.
While we in North America may point with a little bit of pride to the fact we are making progress in gaining full equality for women in the workforce, we also state with some authority that a woman's role in our social and cultural circles is pretty well 100 per cent. It's no longer just about workplace equality, it's now more about quality and sharing reins of power and status.
Alas, that is not the case in other parts of the world and, in fact, some regions aren't even close.
We cite the incident of Malala Yousafzai as a prime example. She is the brave young girl who insisted on going to school and as a result, was shot in the head by extremists but lived to fight on and become a hero and beacon of hope for undermined women everywhere.
Malala knew instinctively that education led to knowledge, and knowledge is power, and she was then, and is still now, willing to speak out and speak up. She is doing so in public pulpits where her assertiveness can be displayed without condemnation.
In emerging nations, it has become obvious that women are leading the way on the entrepreneurial and social fronts in spite of having to accept unequal status.
Still in other countries women and girls are tortured and even killed in the name of family honour. How that is ever justified on any level, is incomprehensible to those who have even a modicum of spirituality and intelligence.
Indigenous women still bear the brunt of our social ills, in North America as well as other pockets, where ignorance supercedes intelligence.
Even in our own protected pocket of the world, we still find ourselves hammering away at the old equal pay for work of equal value for women. Sad, but true. We struggle and sometimes win the battle to provide fair maternity leave and workplace fairness in our legislative houses, and we've gained measures of success on occasion.
But while we do that, we keep in mind there are still millions of women who are unable to go out in public unescorted, let alone work there. There are women who aren't allowed to drive vehicles. There are women being burned because they are women.
So the struggle for equality has only just begun.
We expect that it will be women who will ultimately spread the gospel of fairness to all corners of the world as they move forward in the spirit displayed by a little girl who went to school and was shot because she wanted to learn. She is now a threat to ignorant people around the world who still don't get it.
