Removing barriers

Students host a week-long celebration of women from all areas of life and raise awareness about violence against women

Co-chairs Naomi Mares and Kate McCord say this year’s Women’s Worth Week involved more participation from male speakers and attendees.
Image by: Tiffany Lam
Co-chairs Naomi Mares and Kate McCord say this year’s Women’s Worth Week involved more participation from male speakers and attendees.

This year, Women’s Worth Week is hoping to use feminism as a way to bridge the gap between the inequalities of the sexes.

The week-long event is meant to honour women on campus, in the community and globally.

Co-Chair Kate McCord believes that the idea of equality can sometimes make men feel victimized. “There’s this idea of blaming men and we want to stay away from that,” McCord, ArtSci ’13 said.

About 15 people attended the roundtable discussion that happened this past Monday.

Professors Robert Morrison and Sam McKegney from the English department spoke at the event and gave insight on violence against women on campus.

“Guys have come out to the event,” McCord said. “It’s important that they feel included.”

Last year, the event had all female speakers, except blogger Jeff Perera, co-chair of Ryerson’s White Ribbon Campaign, which is organized by men and works to end violence against women.

Perera spoke again this past Wednesday.

The co-chairs asked Perera to come back for a second year because they like the discussion he brings about how masculinity can be redefined.

“When we ascribe a gender to certain emotions or characteristics it is very sexist,” McCord said.

The organizers started planning this event in the summer.

“We hit the ground running,” McCord said. “It has been very difficult, we had a budget of $50 to run this event . . . the money came from the gender studies department — it was very kind of them.” The co-chairs are now discussing with the AMS and ASUS the possibility of applying for equity grants if they choose to expand their events.

­ — With files from Savoula Stylianou

This article has ben updated to reflect the following correction: The Ban Righ Centre didn’t host all of the Women’s Worth Week events. The Journal regrets the error.

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