By invalidating the judgment Roe v. wade which had upheld the right of American women to control their bodies in 1973, the Supreme Court of the United States gave a shock to all those of us who wish to see one day a world where the equality of men and women is no longer a dream, but a reality.
Posted at 10:00 a.m.
We have to face the facts: we are not immune to setbacks in terms of women’s rights, and the gains made in recent decades in economic and social terms remain very insufficient, and their future is not not guaranteed.
The judgment of the Supreme Court of the United States comes to us after a week where we were able to attend the sad spectacle of the appearance of the leaders of Hockey Canada who swept under the carpet the gang rape of a young woman.
This appearance itself occurred in the week following the Canadian Grand Prix during which there were more than 30,000 sexual service advertisements in the Montreal area. These two examples are just the tip of the iceberg. In the latest edition of Vital Signs of Greater Montreal, the Foundation of Greater Montreal has partnered with the Institut du Québec and several organizations in the field to document the situation of women and girls in our region on the issues of mental health, violence and integration. to the labor market. This study follows the creation of the collective fund Femmes Action Montréal, which saw a hundred leaders, mostly women, mobilize in a philanthropic initiative in favor of women and girls in our region.
The conclusion is clear: we are still far from equality.
For example, the study tells us that there are 3.5 times more women than men heads of single-parent families, and that 41% of these women say they have poor or very poor mental health. We also learn that one in five women has been subjected to violent behavior in the marital environment and that the wage gap between men and women is still 9.2%. If you are also an immigrant, Indigenous or racialized woman, suffering from a functional limitation or belonging to the LGBTQ2S+ community, these data, like many others, are even more alarming.
What the study does not tell us is that women in Quebec have to give up having a child, or put their careers on hold, for lack of childcare space, that mothers from single-parent families who will have to look for a new roof this year will suffer the full brunt of the 44% increase in rental prices, which risks pushing them into food insecurity. Nor does the study say that it is women who hold the majority, and at arm’s length, of our health and education systems, the community sector and that of the social economy, which are chronically underfunded, in overloaded jobs, badly paid, and in often unacceptable working conditions.
Nor does the study say that our daughters are being harassed multiple times a day while walking down the street, or how they feel when they look behind their shoulder to see if they are being followed.
She does not explain how they feel when they suffer the misogynistic attacks of male supremacists who attack their physical appearance and their intelligence as soon as they speak up to defend their rights, those of their children, or the future of the planet.
“Systemic sexism”
By writing this, I have the impression of revisiting commonplaces, already rehashed 1000 times, and this is precisely what troubles me. “Systemic sexism” is part of our normality and only elicits a shrug of the shoulders. I am a man, and I have never felt as much as today the urgency to identify myself as a feminist. I see that the fundamental values that make it possible to build a fair human society for all are feminist values, and that these are constantly flouted. They are however essential to counter the every man for himself, the exclusion and the polarization which corrupt our society.
The US Supreme Court’s decision isn’t just about abortion or women’s rights, it’s also about the kind of society we want our girls and boys to grow up in. When the situation of women improves, society as a whole progresses. To complete the long march towards women’s equality is to invest in the only real prosperity: that which benefits everyone. A feminist society.