Gender equality: Heal together, grow together and move forward together

On June 20th, 2020 while 50 women were working together to make thousands of masks to distribute to anybody and everybody that needed one, they were also completing a journey of their own. To heal together; grow together; and move forward together they were helping each other and guiding one another. Journey of a women and especially a woman of colour is unique and takes time, wisdom and compassion to understand. While they have survived multilevel of discrimination, the outcome also is that they have come out stronger to not only support their own families but to also relate to, and be compassionate for the other discriminated groups let it be racial, ethnic or gender based minorities. They are a colaborative, forgiving, encouraging and solution based group that is ready to make incremental changes by taking tough challenges of 21st century.

A program that was set in March to celebrate International women day was postponed and was celebrated on June 20th. The focus was to review the past, understand the present and move forward towards gender equality in 2020 and beyond through the lease of lived experiences and Human Rights Act of Canada.

Program was as follows:

Lunch: 1:00pm- 1:45pm

(CHETNA with partnership with Yogi’s kitchen https://www.yogiskitchen.ca/)

Dialogue on gender equality: 4:40 Meera Gill, President of OGV: Welcome guests and share initiatives of OGV to support growth and awarness of women of colour

Special guest speakers:

Rachna Singh, MLA Surrey Green Timbers: Role of government in eliminating gender discrimination against women of colour

Manjit Bains, Women committee lead of Chetna Association: Struggle and progress of women for gender equality

While both Rachna, Manjit and Meera Gill shared their personal testing experiences, they also shared their successes, strong commitment and faith in building a better tomorrow for our next generation.Catharsis through Punjabi folk songs continued there after to acknowledge the struggles of women with a clear picture in mind to move forward. All guests felt the connection with each others, healed during this process and committed to continue their efforts for a better future for the next generation as a responsibility and tribute to the women who came before us and fought for what freedoms we enjoy today.