Have we really come a long way, baby?

These inane comments were captured on audiotapes in 1971, and later made public through a Freedom of Information Act request. Thankfully, 38 years later, such views are no longer the prevailing opinion in our society, right? Think again. Just this past year alone, media commentators during the U.S. presidential race, felt the need to discuss the tone of Hillary Clinton’s voice, stating that it reminded them of their wives screeching 'to take out the garbage', as if that had anything –anything at all—to do with what that voice had to say. Sadly, plus ça change, plus c’est pareil…

Last year's theme for International Women's Day was "Strong Women, Strong World", and yet, decades after the Pay Equity Act was passed, women still earn 11% less than men and only a mere 21% of the Canadian Parliament is comprised of female MPs. Has overwhelming progress been made? Absolutely! But, if we’re to stay on the right track, it’s important to be aware of the inequality that women around the world still continue to face.

A popular adage states: "The most serious threat to democracy is the notion that it has already been achieved". Replace the word "democracy" with "equality" and you'll see where I’m going with this.

So much has already been accomplished and so much progress has already been made (particularly in the social and economic circles of most people making political decisions) that, one suspects, policy-makers are sometimes not capable of seeing how much still needs to be done.

Many young women today, raised in a world that told them they “could be anyone and do anything” have shunned the title of “feminist”, somehow erroneously equating it with angry bra-burning, man-hating women in the ‘60s; a relic of the past, if you will.

Many of today’s over-achieving women don’t see a reason for putting women’s rights at the forefront of the issues that they personally need to tackle and are somehow afraid or unwilling to identify with that title. But, since when is being a feminist at odds with being a woman? How are equal pay, equal opportunities and equal representation not goals shared by all – men included? To suggest that the fight for equality is over, is ludicrous and does disservice to those who need our support the most.

Here are the grim facts in 2009. Women do two-thirds of the world’s work but receive only 10% of the world’s income and own less than 1% of land. Although women make up 51 percent of the world’s population, they hold only 16 percent of parliamentary and congressional seats worldwide. Women are still the primary care givers and too many of them still live below the poverty line.

True, there are more women in government today than ever before but their numbers are simply not enough to change public policy and the allocation of resources which are instrumental in bringing tangible benefits to women.

Too many Canadians overestimate the success of the women's movement because their perceptions are usually distorted by constant media coverage of successful and strong women. The simple truth of it, though, is that for every Hillary Clinton and Michaelle Jean, for every successful business woman, like the ones being profiled here today, there are thousands of anonymous women and minimum wage workers who are out of options and out of luck. Who speaks for them?

Before we can understand why International Women’s Day still matters, we need to be reminded of the facts. Like Gloria Steinem once eloquently stated: “The truth will set you free. But first it will piss you off”.

Cold hard facts can sometimes be hard to swallow, but up to 50% of women worldwide continue to experience domestic violence during marriage, two-thirds of the world's 1 billion illiterate adults are women and 80% of all refugees globally are women and children!

We may think that women’s equality is a fait accompli, but as long as we're still having debates over abortion rights, as long as pay inequity is alive and well, as long as systematic rape continues to be used as a very calculated and brutal weapon of war, and as long as honour killings continue to make front page news around the world, we still have strides to make.

We may have come a long way, baby, but let's not lose sight of the long way still to go.