Not one woman is on her provincial body. Out of the top 10 positions (all men) 6 are white. I am astounded. In her defence she claims this as indication of her being non- BEE, choosing the best person for the position; that her decisions are based on a commitment to this policy.
A year ago I spent 3 weeks in New York. Before getting to NYC, in the build up to elections, I was a firm supporter of Hillary Clinton. Yes, I believed more in the enormous potential power for women all over the world it could be having a woman as president of the USA, rather than a belief in her politics- this is my personal politics. However watching her on TV, talking to people, reading editorials, I became aware that Hillary was not going to care for the "cause" , for women. She was transparently there for her own self promotion, her own self grandization. Barack got my attention.
Helen has never caught my attention but she stirred my hope that having a woman in power would present an opportunity for attention to the much needed cause of women in our country. Is she yet another Hillary? Surely she has women in her political party? Surely some of these women were worthy of being trained for executive positions? I am stunned at the brazenness of this choice: no women in power. And I am not even commenting on the racial divide..
Tonight I began a new Pillowbook Woman's Group. Once again a number of very brave, anxious women gather in my rooms, with hope in their hearts that they can overcome obstacles that prevent them becoming the healthy, sexually functional women they long to be. Each woman has her own unique obstacles to overcome -- however there is a thread of sameness that runs through these women- and most every woman that I work with- lives: disempowerment, lack of confidence and sexual knowledge and voicelessness in their own bedrooms. These women need places of pride, they need to be honoured as powerful people in the world. They need women to support them in gaining voices against men who hold too much power.
Helen knows that this disempowerment brings high numbers of HIV/STI/AIDS figures into our country. She knows about our high rate of femicide, domestic violence and desperate fear so many women live with in our province. Excluding women from her halls of power surely reinforces men's belief in their privilege to power and further marginalises women from being seen as equal and , well, people too.
My disappointment runs deep. It once again remains for women to stand up for themselves in a world in which we cannot even rely on a "sister" for support.
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