This is just a snapshot of Elena’s day. It’s a day like any other, except that it is February 20th. Known as the World Day of Social Justice, it aims to draw attention and change to injustices in area of human rights. As we follow Elena in her footsteps, perhaps we can ask ourselves how relevant February 20th is to us all…
When waking up, Elena automatically reaches to turn on the radio. It’s her daily ritual. Within seconds, her eyes open wide and her heart speeds up. This usually happens only after a shot of espresso.
“Did this really happen?” she says to herself out loud after hearing the coverage of a story recently discovered by the media. According to the news, an unknown woman, who was sleeping in a doorway of a Toronto community agency was sexually assaulted by a young man in the early hours of the morning. A second man sexually assaulted this woman just one hour later. She never moved and did not leave. A security camera captured everything. The video of this event was so clear that both of the perpetrators’ faces were completely visible. Yet, this woman never contacted the police. No one seems to know who she is and there are no leads according to the police in charge of solving this crime. Elena lies in bed mortified as she imagines what this woman went through. She knows that homeless women are ten times more likely to be sexually assaulted compared to women who have a permanent address. As she goes on to brush her teeth, she is thinking about the lack of convictions in sexual assault cases overall and starts to understand why the attacked woman would never bother calling the police. Why is this still happening?
On her way to work, Elena catches her usual bus. She notices a headline of a newspaper being read by another fellow passenger. In bold letters the article is titled: “Have we learned nothing from Ashley Smith’s case?” Elena thinks back to the story of a Canadian teenage girl who faced an unnecessary death and how much this incidence stirred up discussion around criminalization of women with mental health issues. Minutes later, as Elena looks down at today’s free paper that the passenger left behind, she picks it up and reads about another teenage girl called Nichele. The article explains that a twenty something year old Nichele suffers from a life long brain disorder, yet lost count of the times she has been in front of a judge and faced jail time due to her behaviour. Her medical condition should make the justice system respond differently, yet she is treated in the same way as a person who has the mental capacity to make different decisions. Elena stops reading and wonders why in this day and age we still need Social Justice focused rallies pleading for fair treatment of people with mental health issues. Why is this still happening?
Elena steps off the bus and walks towards a coffee shop located minutes away from her work. While in line waiting to order, she overhears a conversation between two women standing ahead of her. They are discussing a documentary called Motherload that was on TV last week. As they share their thoughts of this Canadian made documentary about struggles faced by working mothers, Elena hears one of the women say: “Feminist fight for equality, left Motherhood out of the equation.” With intrigue to hear the meaning of this, she continues listening in… “With all that has changed among women and men in the last 50 years, why do we still follow the traditional gender roles?” Elena knows from seeing it all around that women often work the same amount of hours as men, yet still do most of the childcare and housework. She has previously read that 70 percent of Canadian moms are working moms. They are not just juggling, but struggling. Why is this still happening?
Elena takes a sip of her hot coffee and gets to work before 9am. It is only the morning, but Elena has heard enough to know that the World Day of Social Justice is sadly very relevant. We obviously need more than a reminder and globally address the real issues of poverty, violence and unequal treatment faced by women every day.
