On Monday, September 24, 2018, CanWaCH kicked off Canada’s inaugural Gender Equality Week with a celebration at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. This event brought together Canadian and International friends to celebrate Canadian leadership in gender equality.
Event attendees had the opportunity to hear from Canada’s International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau, Mariam Claeson from the Global Financing Facility, Dr. Gavin Armstrong from Lucky Iron Fish, Plan International Canada’s Caroline Riseboro and CanWaCH’s Julia Anderson.
While this event was an opportunity to celebrate the progress that has been made towards gender equality and around the globe, it also brought together a unique group of influencers from the government, civil society organizations and the private sector to discuss the work that still needs to be done.
There are plenty of more opportunities to keep the momentum from Gender Equality Week going! One of which is CanWaCH’s public engagement campaign, Lead On Canada. Canada’s commitment to take the lead in global health is one of our country’s best-kept secrets. Lead On Canada aims to change that by amplifying the work of CanWaCH member organizations and sparking a conversation on the leading role Canada has played in advancing the health, rights and wellbeing of women and children globally.
Another opportunity is Women Deliver 2019, the world’s largest conference on women and girls’ health, rights and wellbeing, taking place in Vancouver in June. The global spotlight will be on Canada, which gives us all an important opportunity to make progress on gender equality, both at home and abroad.
Minister Bibeau said it best, “Women Deliver is more than an event, it is a movement”. Join the movement and become a part of Women Deliver 2019 Mobilization Canada, a campaign of Canadian organizations mobilizing together to improve our country’s leadership on gender equality and to generate increased investment in the health, rights and wellbeing of women and girls everywhere.
