On this, the 100th anniversary of the first International Women’s Day, we want to thank the many brave and principled women and men who made it possible for women like us to practice the learned professions. It is sometimes hard to remember how rare this is in human history, how recently these rights and opportunities were secured, and how easily they could be lost. Just ask the women of Kabul, or Baghdad, or Riyadh… Or read Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. And it was only 1929 that in a court, consisting entirely of men, decided that Canadian women were, after all, “persons”.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.