Members of 15 Wing Moose Jaw and CAE partners gathered on Mar. 9 for a workshop to celebrate International Women’s Day, hosted as part of a gender-based violence programming initiative through the Military Family Service Program.
Wing Commander Col. Ron Walker opened the workshop with a few words, before turning the podium over to Chief Warrant Officer Marlene Shillingford, who spoke to the importance of including women alongside men in all positions to create diversity.
“It's not just women, its about diversity. It doesn't matter what gender you are. Everyone should have the opportunity to aspire and to reach their greatest potential and know their worth,” said Shillingford.
Walker noted that a very small portion of Canadian Armed Forces personnel are women — less than 15 per cent overall, with only five per cent of pilots currently serving being female — and women have only been allowed to enroll in military trades of all types as of 2001.
Currently, the CAF has the continued goal of seeing women make up at least 25 per cent of forces.
“This is something that the Chief and I have talked about very often and something that we've struggled with, why there's not more females in some occupations,” said Walker. “I think it's a great initiative that we're trying to progress for everyone, to have more females involved in all aspects of military life.”
Domestic violence outreach worker Kelly Banga from Family Service Regina then spoke to the crowd about the integrative relationship between empathy, equality, and equity, and how those things intersect with feminism and the continued push for equal rights.
“If we're going to hope to understand how we're going to bring equality for women, we need to understand the many layers of a woman's experience,” said Banga in her presentation.
Banga then spoke about how equality can be achieved by a collection of voices, rather than just one. As a domestic violence worker, Banga knows too well how being silent can sometimes perpetuate situations of gender-based violence.
“There's strength in numbers and voices are critical in driving change. One voice is powerful but voices together are more powerful,” said Banga.
As she noted, Saskatchewan has the highest rate of police-reported family violence in Canada — a statistic that emphasizes the need for understanding what gender-based violence looks like so that it can be stopped.
This is why she closed her presentation by encouraging everyone to find their voice against gender discrimination and inequality.
“We are all responsible for what we choose to do each day, [and] what you do matters just as much as what you don't do,” said Banga. “Will you recognize that your voice matters?”
The workshop was entirely optional, and child and youth services coordinator with the Moose Jaw Military Family Resource Centre Hannah Elich was pleased to see so many members taking the morning to attend.
The base hosts some type of event to commemorate International Women’s Day each year, and Elich feels like it is a great way to open up the conversation about sometimes difficult topics like these.
“I think that exposure and frequency lead to comfort and familiarity, and so the more that you talk about an issue and address it, the more it becomes de-mystified, as it were,” said Elich. “It's never easy [to talk about these topics], but it's so important and I'm always really encouraged and delighted to have people want to participate.”
