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Toronto – September 27, 2017 – Over the last 150 years, Canadian women have made notable strides toward gender equality in our workplaces and communities, and each year citizens and activists across Canada honour Women’s History Month to celebrate those advancements.

Held every October, Women’s History Month also brings the International Day of the Girl (October 11) and Persons Day (October 18), which aim to raise awareness of the barriers that prevent full equality for women.

As the leading union for women workers in Canada, UFCW Canada partners with a number of women’s and social justice organizations committed to advancing gender equality and women’s rights, including the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) and the YMCA.

LEAF educates and litigates for women’s rights in the courtroom and advocates for survivors of domestic violence. It has also been very active in holding the federal government to account on its promises to pursue justice for missing and murdered indigenous women and girls in Canada. The YMCA, meanwhile, is leading the charge to end gender-based violence through its Rose Campaign and #NotOkay initiative, both of which are fully supported by UFCW Canada.

Inequities such as the gender wage gap between women workers and their male counterparts, and the continued presence of misogyny, sexism, and discrimination in our workplaces and communities, demonstrate that there is still more work to be done when it comes to realizing full equality for women in Canada. And that is why building alliances and encouraging support for organizations like LEAF and the YWCA is so important.

This October, let us honour the contributions that so many great women have made to our country, while recommitting ourselves to achieving substantive equality for all women in Canada.

In solidarity,

Paul R. Meinema
National President
UFCW Canada