International Women’s Day events were in full swing at Canadian Forces (CF) Base Borden in Borden, Ont., on Friday.
The jam-packed day included a number of events, activities, workshops and speeches geared towards empowering women and furthering the conversation surrounding improving gender equality.
The event centered around this year’s International Women’s Day theme, “Balance for Better,” a call for gender balance across the globe.
One of the keynote speakers at Friday’s event was four-time Olympian and two-time gold medalist in bobsled, Heather Moyse, who shared her story of overcoming internal and external barriers to achieve success at the Olympics.
Moyse now uses her lived experiences and shares her story to empower others to achieve their goals.
“I feel very fortunate that I’ve had a lot of very different experiences in my life, many varied experiences and so I can pull on a lot of different things,” she said.
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“All of it is to act as a backdrop to help empower people and help move people forward towards their goals.”
Moyse says events like the one hosted at CF Base Borden are important because they help to empower women and perpetuate the conversation around gender equality.
“I think days like this are important because it helps keep the momentum going,” she said. “I think sometimes it’s a bit of a fueling station, to re-inject that messaging and bring it back to the forefront of our minds.”
Moyse says International Women’s Day events are also necessary because they help to shed light on issues of gender inequality around the world.
Honorary Colonel, and keynote speaker, Jennifer Armstrong-Lehman, echoed Moyse’s remarks, saying International Women’s Day events are “fantastically important.”
“I think these events are fantastically important. It gives us an opportunity to reflect on accomplishments in the past, to celebrate where we are and to set goals for the future,” she said.
Armstrong-Lehman’s speech at the event centered around the need for gender balance in politics.
“Everybody brings something different and unique to the table, but it is important that women are at the table to have those discussions to bring those issues up and discuss it,” she said.
Moving forward, Armstrong-Lehman says it is about keeping the conversation surrounding gender equality alive.
“I think we keep the conversation rolling and I think we engage everybody on it. I think the worry for some people is that it becomes a celebration of women by women for women, and I think the message this year internationally of ‘Balance for Better’ is really important,” she said.
“If we work together, we create a balance and we get a better country and a better community.”
WATCH: 2019 International Women’s Day campaign
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