Shattering the Glass Ceiling

I am not usually political in my blogs. Politics and religion are very personal to me. I don’t want to debate them, I want to allow people to have their own space and thoughts. I love to talk about my beliefs and passions with other people and I love to hear about the beliefs and passions of others. I have talked about being judgmental and I work hard to avoid being judgmental of choices that others make. There does come a time when you need to stand up for what is right and as a woman, I want to be on the side of strong women with integrity, always. Women like Jody Wilson-Raybould and Maya Angelou, Roberta Bondar, Nellie McClung and so many more.

I cannot stay silent when I see Kamala Harris step up to run for President of the United States. When we saw Hillary Clinton launch her campaign, she broke a glass ceiling. So many of us could not believe that someone like Trump could win, and he did. This time, we take nothing for granted. I can’t vote in the election but, I can make a strong statement for Kamala Harris – which is also a statement for positivity, honour and integrity. Telling the truth and lifting people up. You can disagree with me but, I challenge you to find legitimate sources and challenge Trump’s claims. Arguing with people never convinces them but, opening up doors and listening, asking questions like, “Where did you hear that?” or “How do you know that?” can challenge our thinking.

I was treated badly as a woman leader. I have watched time as time and again women leaders are accused of being too demanding, bitchy and mean. I was called names, lied about, gaslit and harassed as a woman in leadership. It is terrible when men do it to women but, it is SO MUCH worse when women do it to women. We can do better – let’s get behind Kamala Harris and women everywhere and do what we can to lift each other up.

Jeanne Mance founded the first hospital in Montreal in 1645.
Jennie Trout became the first licensed female physician in Canada in 1875.
Carrie Derick was the founder of McGill University’s genetics department in the early 1920’s.  She was a vocal advocate for women’s equality, saying women would rise to any challenge if given the opportunity: “We have come to the time when women’s capacity to do anything well ceases to surprise,” she said. “It is taken as a matter of course.”
Thanks to Emily Murphy, women in Canada were officially declared “persons” under the law in 1929!
“Never retract, never explain, never apologize — get the thing done and let them howl!” These words sum up the verve and determination of this politician and social activist. A devoted feminist, Nellie McClung was instrumental in making Manitoba was the first province to give women the right to vote and run for public office. 
Lucy Maud Montgomery is famous all over the world for writing Anne of Green Gables.
Daughter of Helen Gregory MacGill, British Columbia’s first woman judge, Elsie MacGill became the first Canadian woman to receive a degree in aeronautical engineering in 1927, and the first woman in North America (and possibly the world) to receive a Master’s degree in that subject in 1929. 
Pitseolak Ashoona began creating art in the last two decades of her life — and helped found a modern form of Inuit art.
When the government of Canada forced Canadians of Japanese ancestry into internment camps, Hide Hyodo Shimizu ensured their children still had the chance to go to school. Shimizu, who was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, was one of the first Nisei, Canadian-born children of Japanese immigrants, to receive a teacher’s certificate.
Viola Desmond, a black Nova Scotian woman, was a successful business owner when she bought a movie ticket at the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow, NS in 1946.  Desmond’s case is now considered one of many significant civil-rights cases of the mid-20th century, and in 2010 Lieutenant Governor Mayann Francis granted Desmond Canada’s first posthumous pardon.
Margaret Atwood, a poet, novelist, essayist, and literary critic, is one of the most-honored authors of fiction alive: she is the recipient of over 55 awards both in Canada and internationally.
Buffy Sainte-Marie, a Cree singer-songwriter, artist, educator, and activist, began her performing career in the mid-1960s; she quickly became known as a gifted songwriter, and her songs have been covered by diverse artists, including Elvis Presley, Janis Joplin, Neil Diamond, and Barbra Streisand. Her protest song Universal Soldier famously became an anthem for the anti-Vietnam-war movement.
Roberta Bondar is best known as Canada’s first woman in space after a 1992 mission on board the shuttle Discovery.
This list is only the beginning. When we get behind women, we change the world. When we stand with each other and lift each other up, we make a difference.