McMaster Golden Z

McMaster Golden Z is hosting a Trivia Night TOMORROW from 5 to 6 PM! Join us for a night of fun and a chance to win a $15 Starbucks gift card! The theme for this Trivia Night is Women In Stem, and everyone is welcome to join. Please fill out the form below to register for the event! The event will be hosted through Zoom, and a code will be given to access the game. Hope to see you there! Link to register: https://forms.gle/uRc33cpr3nwLZBJv9

McMaster Golden Z is hosting a Trivia Night on Friday, January 29th, from 5 to 6 PM! Join us for a night of fun and a chance to win a $15 Starbucks gift card! The theme for this Trivia Night is Women In Stem, and everyone is welcome to join. Please fill out the form below to register for the event! The event will be hosted through Zoom, and a code will be given to access the game. Hope to see you there! Link to register: https://forms.gle/uRc33cpr3nwLZBJv9

Day 16: World Human Rights Day This year’s Human Rights Day theme relates to the COVID-19 pandemic and focuses on the need to build back better by ensuring Human Rights are central to recovery efforts. The common goal is to create equal opportunities for all, address the failures exposed and exploited by COVID-19, and apply human rights standards to tackle entrenched, systematic, and intergenerational inequalities, exclusion and discrimination. Today is an opportunity to reaf...firm the importance of human rights in re-building the world we want, the need for global solidarity as well as our interconnectedness and shared humanity. Under UN Human Rights’ generic call to action Stand Up for Human rights, we aim to engage the general public, our partners and the UN family to bolster transformative action and showcase practical and inspirational examples that can contribute to recovering better and fostering more resilient and just societies. The COVID-19 crisis has been fuelled by deepening poverty, rising inequalities, structural and entrenched discrimination and other gaps in human rights protection. Measures need to be put in place to build back a world that is better, more resilient, just, and sustainable. End discrimination of any kind: Structural discrimination and racism have fuelled the COVID-19 crisis. Equality and non-discrimination are core requirements for a post-COVID world. Address inequalities: To recover from the crisis, we must also address the inequality pandemic. For that, we need to promote and protect economic, social, and cultural rights. Encourage participation and solidarity: From individuals to governments, from civil society and grass-roots communities to the private sector, everyone has a role in building a post-COVID world that is better for present and future generations. Promote sustainable development: We need sustainable development for people and the planet. Source: https://www.un.org/en/observances/human-rights-day To learn more about World Human Rights Day, visit the resources listed below: https://www.un.org/en/udhrbook/ https://www.un.org//obse/human-rights-day/know-your-rights https://www.standup4humanrights.org//20/highlights_23.html https://www.standup4humanrights.org//20/highlights_22.html

Hi everyone! Zonta Club of Hamilton 1 is offering the YOUNG WOMEN IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS AWARD. If you are a young woman, be sure to check out this amazing opportunity! The Deadline to enter is March 1st, 2021. More info can be found in the post below!

Meet the McMaster Golden Z team for the 2020/2021 year! These are the lovely people working behind the scenes of our club to help bring awareness to women's issues, advocate for women's rights, and continue to empower women!

Day 15: Gender-based Violence and the Environment Environmental degradation and climate change are the most salient threats humanity faces today. But as much as environmental destruction is a global problem, it does not impact everyone equally. Like most problems, environmental degradation and climate change exacerbate inequalities, particularly gender inequalities, driving gender-based violence. Displacement or loss of natural resources, whether due to climate change, weathe...r-related disasters, or the activity of extract industries and large-scale agribusiness, causes people to lose their livelihoods and heightens gender-based inequalities and violence. In the aftermath of displacement or disaster, vital livelihood activities, such as water and firewood, become highly dangerous and place women at greater risk of violent victimization. In an attempt to cope with compounding climate or disaster impacts, families may increase harmful gender-based violence practices, such as child marriage. Women who work to defend environmental human rights are at a particular risk of violence, in part due to their actions challenging existing gender norms in their communities and societies. Gender-based violence is often used to repress the power and authority of women environmental human rights defenders, undermine their credibility and status within the community, and discourage them and others from continuing their activism. What can be done? Countries need to put in place stronger and more effective environmental laws, policies and strategies to address the links between gender-based violence environmental issues. Environmental organizations also need to consider and protect against gender-based violence through their work. You can start by learning more about specific examples of how environmental degradation heightens gender-based violence in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s report, Gender-based Violence and Environment Linkages: The Violence of Inequality. You can find the report here: https://portals.iucn.org/library/node/48969 Source: Castañeda Carney, I., Sabater, L., Owren, C., Boyer, A., & E. Wen, J. (2020). Gender-based violence and environment linkages: The violence of inequality. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.CH.2020.03.en

Day 13: Abortion Rights Women’s ability to access safe and legal abortions is restricted in law or in practice in most countries in the world. In fact, even where abortion is permitted by law, women often have severely limited access to safe abortion services because of lack of proper regulation, health services, or political will. At the same time, only a very small minority of countries prohibit all abortion. In most countries and jurisdictions, abortion is allowed at least... to save the pregnant woman’s life, or where the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest. Abortion is a highly emotional subject and one that excites deeply held opinions. However, equitable access to safe abortion services is first and foremost a human right. Where abortion is safe and legal, no one is forced to have one. Where abortion is illegal and unsafe, women are forced to carry unwanted pregnancies to term or suffer serious health consequences and even death. Approximately 13 percent of maternal deaths worldwide are attributable to unsafe abortionbetween 68,000 and 78,000 deaths annually. Women’s organizations across the world have fought for the right to access safe and legal abortion for decades, and increasingly international human rights law supports their claims. In fact, international human rights legal instruments and authoritative interpretations of those instruments compel the conclusion that women have a right to decide independently in all matters related to reproduction, including the issue of abortion. Source: https://www.hrw.org/legacy/women/abortion.html https://www.amnesty.org//sexual-and-reprod/abortion-facts/

Day 12: Montreal Massacre Remembrance Day Today is the 31st anniversary of the Montreal Massacre, which is the deadliest mass shooting to happen in Canada. In 1989, a gunman entered the Ecole Polytechnique, and ordered all the men out of the room. He then declared his hatred for feminists and shot the 9 female students that were in that room, killing 6 of them and wounding 3. He continued going through the l’Université de Montréal’s engineering school, shooting more women. Th...is act of violence lasted 20 minutes, and 14 women were murdered. Their names were: Geneviève Bergeron, Hélène Colgan, Nathalie Croteau, Barbara Daigneault, Anne-Marie Edward, Maud Haviernick, Maryse Laganière, Maryse Leclair, Anne-Marie Lemay, Sonia Pelletier, Michèle Richard, Annie St-Arneault, Annie Turcotte and Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz. This attack was a form of anti-feminst and gender-based violence. Unfortunately, incidents such as this one continue to be a problem in our world, and violence against women is rampant. Half of women in Canada have experience at least 1 incident of physical or sexual violence since the age of 16. Women are more likely to be the victims of cyberviolence, such as threats, stalking and physical and sexual harassment. Indigenous women experience violence and are killed 6 times more than non-indigenous women. It is important to acknowledge that gender-based violence is still an issue in our world today, and continue to take actions towards preventing it. Source: https://theconversation.com/the-montreal-massacre-is-finall https://canadianwomen.org/the-facts/gender-based-violence/

Day 11: Human Trafficking For day 11 of 16 days of activism, we want to discuss Human Trafficking. Human trafficking is one of the most heinous crimes imaginable, that can happen to both men and women, but is found to more commonly target women. It involves the recruitment, transportation, harboring, and/or exercising control, direction, or influence over the movements of a person to exploit that person (which is typically through sexual exploitation or forced labor). Victims... are deprived of their everyday lives and compelled to provide labor, sexual services, and/or more through intimidation, force, sexual assault, and threats of violence to the victims or their families. The most at risk communities are: Indigenous women and girls LGBTQ2 persons Immigrants At risk youth Those who are socially or economically disadvantaged How to help end human trafficking Know the signs Report a tip Spread awareness Stay informed Raise your voice Sources: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/otip/about/ways-endtrafficking https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca//cntrng-crm/h/index-en.aspx To learn more, visit these sites: https://www.unodc.org//huma/what-is-human-trafficking.html https://time.com//windie-jo-lazenko-sex-trafficking-survi/ https://www.cairn.info/revue-internationale-de-droit-penal- https://www.canadiancentretoendhumantrafficking.ca

Day 10: Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) On day 10 of 16 Days of Activism, McMaster Golden Z would like to focus female genital mutilation (FGM). FGM is a form of gender-based violence that many people in our own communities are not aware of. It involves the cutting and/or partial removal of external genitalia. Typically occuring to girls of ages 7-10, FGM is practiced in many countries around the world including Canada, despite being internationally accepted as a violation of... human rights of women and girls. It is important to address the common misconceptions so we can properly educate ourselves and put a stop to FGM. As stated by Plan Canada, here are 5 common myths about FGM: Myth #1: FGM is one procedure. This isn’t true: the World Health Organization identifies 4 types of FGM procedures. Myth #2: FGM is no different from male circumcision. This is false! Male circumcision is a common procedure that has minimal health consequences compared to those that accompany FGM. FGM results in great health risks as medical professionals only perform the procedure on 1 out of 5 girls, and it is often perfomed in unsanitary conditions using old knives, razor blades or broken glass, without anesthetic. Some health risks of FGM include menstrual blockage, painful intercourse, urinary blockage and infection, and even death. Specifically, women who have undergone FGM are twice as likely to die during childbirth and are more likely to give birth to a stillborn baby. Myth #3: FGM is a religion tradition. False: FGM is a cultural tradition, not a religious one. FGM is still continued due to discriminating social and cultural norms that promote gender inequality. Some cultures believe it preserves a woman’s virginity before marriage and prevents her from being unfaithful after marriage. Others believe that this is the only way girls are clean or beautiful. Myth #4: Not many girls undergo FGM. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. 200 million womens and girls that are alive today have undergone some form of FGM. Although these practices are present in many areas of the world, their highest numbers are in many parts of Africa, Middle East countries, and in some parts of South and South East Asia. Myth #5: FGM cannot be stopped. False: slowly but surely, FGM procedures around the world can come to an end. To learn more about FGM, read individual testimonies, and for ways you can help educate others on FGM as a form of gender-based violence, check out the following links and share: https://stories.plancanada.ca/5-common-myths-about-fgm/ https://stories.plancanada.ca/girls-stopping-female-genita/ https://stories.plancanada.ca/fathers-fighting-to-end-fema/ https://stories.plancanada.ca/ending-fgm-why-these-3-tradi/