In Quebec, in 2023, women can only remain vigilant. In everything they undertake and in all the environments in which they work, they carry a heavy burden. This text is intended as a cry from the heart and a reminder of the sometimes forgotten systemic obstacles faced by members of the long-subjugated sex. You might think that being a woman in 2023 is easy, but you’re wrong.
A few weeks ago, I spent an evening with women judges from the superior courts of Quebec and Ontario, women with careers each more inspiring than the next. As I chat with one of them, I explain to her that I plan to work in the judiciary one day. I take this opportunity to ask her what she would advise a young lawyer with big ambitions. She replies that I must remain vigilant, on my guard and alert to how I am treated in my workplace. She reminds me that being a woman comes with its own set of inherent obstacles and difficulties.
I understand his point and I am well aware of the relevance of his advice, but I cannot help feeling a certain frustration. I was warned from the outset that advancing in my environment will be more difficult than for my colleagues. Before they even begin their careers, are men warned about the systemic obstacles they will inevitably face? Are men sometimes asked to remain alert to social changes and how these will affect their rights?
Since I was little, I have been introduced to the pioneers of the feminist movement, women who paved the way for the struggles that today allow us to live (almost) on an equal footing with men. Each year, on March 8, we remember that the mountain on which we stand, we owe it to the sacrifices of those before us. We celebrate these precious gains of which we are so proud.
Precarious earnings
However, these gains, we know them very precarious. As women, we live in constant fear that our rights will be taken away from us. In addition to most often carrying the family burden on our shoulders, having to redouble our efforts so that we are taken seriously, we must also remain alert to the societal climate, to legislative and jurisprudential changes in order to ensure that our gains are not taken away from us. We are taught from a very young age that we must never take our rights for granted, that we must remain vigilant. We are told why the feminist movement is still relevant and why we do not have the luxury of breathing space. We continue to have a heavy burden to bear.
The current climate worries me, particularly because of the influence of what is happening on the other side of the border. At the time of the invalidation of the decree Roe v. wade, like many women across the country, I cried. I wept indignantly. I cried in anger. I cried for all the women in the United States who now feel helpless. A real throwback to the 1980s; my two-year-old niece who lives in Florida (a state that has just passed an “extreme and dangerous” anti-abortion law denounced by the White House) now accompanies her mother on pro-choice marches.
My niece will have less control over her body than her mom and grandma. Although we live in Canada, it is wrong to think that we are immune to this kind of setback. The American climate gives voice to Canadian pro-life groups, which are well funded and active. It is not impossible that a future Conservative government headed by Pierre Poilievre (who, let us not forget, was elected leader of the party with 60% support from anti-abortion MPs) will try to restrict access to abortion.
In 2023, 34 years after the fight led by Chantale Daigle, a fight sometimes fallen into collective oblivion, and 50 years after the invalidation Roe v. wade, there is a serious setback. Contrary to popular belief, the right to abortion is never firmly established. Nowhere. We must remain vigilant. It was enough for the American Supreme Court to reopen the question for the debate to explode again in Canada. It worries me. I heard a friend tell me a few weeks ago that if we see the same setback in Canada, she would drop everything and devote herself full time to activism. I think many of us are saying the same thing. We must remain vigilant. Every day, constantly vigilant. It is our burden.
Is this what awaits us all our life? I’m afraid so.