This Sunday, March 8, is International Women’s Day, in Canada and around the world. As we take time to celebrate and recognize the achievements of women, and to reflect on the work needed to achieve gender equality, we want to offer some areas for focus.
When it comes to women’s health and women’s bodies, reproductive health remains an important area for advocacy and action. We must remain vigilant in these areas as we see regressions around the world, in the U.S. and here in Canada; we must tell elected leaders and policymakers loud and clear that we support full access to pregnancy and abortion care, including, as Alliance member Planned Parenthood Toronto puts it on their website: “the right to access factual, caring, and non-judgmental information and services on all options: abortion, adoption, and parenting.”
It also means making access to contraceptives, including all types of birth control, more accessible to all women, in non-judgmental, peer-supported environments. Other Alliance members – Indigenous Primary Health Care Organizations, Community Family Health Teams, Community Health Centres, and Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinics across Ontario are also committed to helping to lead the way when it comes to helping women access the reproductive care they need as part of primary care.
We must also call on governments to support organizations and providers who serve women who face barriers, including Black, Indigenous and newcomer women. The upcoming Toronto Black Maternal Health Week in April will be another chance to put a focus on equitable services for women, and ensuring that every pregnant person can get the pre and post-natal care they need. Women’s Health in Women’s Hands, a Toronto area CHC, provides further services and guidance for others on what equitable care for women facing barriers looks like and the differences it makes, including mental health care, diabetes care, HIV services, delivered in culturally safe ways.
Alliance members such as Hamilton Urban Core CHC, also understand that equitable care and services for women must include access to feminine hygiene supplies, but also that such services can be combined with opportunities for education, building trust, and meeting people’s needs that go beyond the basics. We must make all doors the right doors for women in primary care.
There are many other areas for focus, when it comes to women’s rights, action against violence and abuse, and issues around pay equity, equal opportunities in education, politics and other key spheres of society, and more. The important thing to remember is that women’s rights are everyone’s concern, and everyone’s work. This IWD, we celebrate all women here in Canada and around the world – and we call on everyone, especially those in health leadership roles, to ensure we’re putting in place and keeping strong the institutions, organizations and services to help women thrive and lead.