York students step up in House of Commons

Dennis Bayazitov | Staff Writer

Featured image: York students Maymuna Mohamed and Rebecca Rossi were among the 338 women participating in Equal Voice Canada’s initiative. | Courtesy of Scazon via Flickr

There was arguably no more empowering way for Canada to celebrate International Women’s Day than by filling all 338 seats in the House of Commons with young women, all eager to voice their demands for change. For the first time in Canada’s history, the House was comprised entirely of women.

For the week of March 6, as part of their Daughters of the Vote event, Equal Voice Canada invited 338 women—one from every federal riding—to Parliament to represent their community and communicate their vision for Canada.

Among the delegates were York’s Maymuna Mohamed and Rebecca Rossi, who respectively represented Michael Levitt and Deb Schulte, of the York Centre and King-Vaughan ridings.

“Watching the House of Commons fill with 338 brave, intelligent and accomplished women illustrated to me that women belong in leadership positions like the House of Commons and that we deserve equal opportunity to attain such positions,” says Rossi, a fourth-year law and society student and president of York’s Women Empowerment Club.

“The issues that I was concerned with included the lack of representation of women and diversity in Parliament, as well as my own personal issues with the federal deficit and its effect on young Canadians like myself.”

Mohamed, a second-year health policy student, was one of the 30 young women who had the chance to make a statement in the House.

“I was honoured to represent York Centre, one of the most diverse ridings in Canada, and shed some light on our reality,” she says.
In her statement, Mohamed emphasized the urgent need for paid menstrual leave to be added to Canada’s Leave Policy Manual.

“There are many countries that already practice it and recognize it. I’m tired of the sexist stereotypes that allow doctors to not view our pain as valid,” she said in the House.

“A lot of women who experience extreme menstrual symptoms and disorders are often forced to go into work and school to avoid awkward conversations simply because there are no policies to protect us.

“There was a time where maternity leave was viewed as impossible and unnecessary, but menstrual leave does not have to be the same,” she concluded, to an uproar of applause.

Mohamed says she is extremely thankful for the opportunity, but wishes more elected officials were present while she and her fellow delegates were making their powerful statements.

Equal Voice received around 2,000 applications. Provincial and territorial adjudication panels comprised of an Indigenous leader, an Equal Voice Chapter representative, at least two elected officials from different political parties and representatives from the business and labour sectors were used to choose the 338 delegates, says Rossi.

On International Women’s Day, Rossi says the delegates’ schedules consisted of panel discussions, a march to Parliament calling for equal representation of women, their historic seating in the House of Commons and time to network with Members of Parliament.

Back at York, fellow female political empowerment devotees and faculty supported the two delegates’ efforts on International Women’s Day and urged further like-minded action.

“The event accomplished a dynamic participation of women in political decision-making,” says Valeria Ramirez, a fourth-year finance and strategic management student and co-president of the Women In Leadership Association at Schulich.

“[It] inspired other women to participate in initiatives that encourage women empowerment and connected women around Canada with an amazing network of women who are making a difference.”

Noor Dhillon, a fourth-year business public administration student and vice-president of the Women Empowerment Club, also agrees with the importance of promoting such inspiration.

“The diversity of the delegates that were present at the week-long event is impactful, as it gives the message to young women of colour that political office is not out of reach,” she says.

“Personally, seeing the diversity reignited my desire to someday run for political office because I was able to imagine myself sitting in the House of Commons by seeing my colleagues take ownership of that space.”

Sandra Whitworth, associate dean of Graduate Studies and Research and professor of Political Science and Gender, Feminism and Women’s Studies, also agrees that ultimately the event aided in getting young women interested in the idea of participating in electoral politics and that “it served as a powerful visual reminder for the rest of us as to how under-representative of women our Parliament still is.”

“It’s a bit early to say, but we can speculate that when people see on the news or social media what it looks like to have 338 women in the [House of Commons], it’s harder to normalize or accept without questioning their otherwise vast under-representation.”

While Rossi and Mohamed were both very satisfied with their business in Parliament, they both still agree that there is much work to be done.

“I believe that at the very least, the Daughters of the Vote program has brought awareness to the fact that even though some women gained the right to vote 100 years ago, we still lack equal representation in political office,” says Rossi.

Mohamed echoed the sentiment. “If we’re talking about empowering all women, then the voices of all should be amplified.”