July 17, 2012

• Report # 901

  Hey everyone, I hope that you've all had a great start to the week. My weekend went by super fast as I was out most of Saturday and Sunday, but it was enjoyable. On Saturday afternoon I met my friend at Nanaimo Station in Vancouver and we walked to a park with a lake. I saw a sign and it was called John Hendry Park. I honestly had no idea this park existed which is pretty bad considering I have lived here for my whole life.

  It was very nice and warm day and there were lots of people out walking, biking, with their dogs, and swimming in the little lake. My friend and I just sat down by the tennis courts under some birch trees and had some soft drinks and fruit. After a while we walked around the lake and found ourselves at the point where we started. It took me a few minutes to realize that we weren't actually on another side of the lake but where we started.

  We then left the park and went to look for this Brazilian restaurant Buteco Brazil as I wanted to try Brazilian food for the first time. It took us a while to find it as we passed it on the bus and kept walking in the wrong direction, but we were able to call a friend and find out where it was exactly. We walked back and took the bus back a ways and then we finally found it. The restaurant was very Brazilian as the waitresses were both Brazilian, and there was a Brazilian soap opera on the TV as well.

  I ordered some chicken wings with rice and a salad and a typical Brazilian soft drink made by the Antarctica company called Guaraná. Before we ate something that looked like larger french fries, but were not actually potato.... though kind of similar. It was great being in the restaurant amongst Canadians, Koreans, Brazilians, Mexicans, Arabians and maybe others from around the world ! Afterwards we took the bus back to Nanaimo station and I took the skytrain back home.

  On Sunday I ran to Tim Hortons after getting up a little before 10:00 am. In the afternoon I went downtown and walked around with my friend for a couple of hours. We had dinner at the Cactus Club after 7:00 pm, and I was kind of stuffed after having the burger and fries and two glasses of coke, so that was it for me that night. I still felt full the next morning.

  The first two days of work this week have gone by well. The girl who I'm supposed to be training told me on Monday morning that she didn't want to get me sick so she didn't sit next to me to train. And today she just wasn't in work at all, so I haven't had to do any training yet this week.... maybe tomorrow. We had a short meeting this morning, and this evening all of the drivers are meeting with dispatch in a restaurant. I was invited to go, but seeing as my life is so busy with everything, I just said I wasn't able to make it.

  Last month I was reading an article in the Vancouver Sun and it said that Canada is the best G20 country to live in the world for women. The review of all the G20 countries and how life is for women was done by TrustLaw, which is a legal news service done by Thomson Reuters Foundation. At the bottoms of the list were Indonesia, Saudia Arabia (which is definitely not surprising) and India.

  Some one has to be at the bottom of course, but that just means that so much more work needs to be done to advance the treatment and opportunity of women around the world. And keep in mind these are just the G20 countries..... I can imagine things are much worse for women in many other countries in the world. Now here in Canada I think we still have a ways to go before there is the 100 % equality with the men here, but this ranking shows at the very least the country is on the right track.

  Some interesting information from the poll done by TrustLaw from this article:
  
  On one side of the border, a woman can see a doctor for free and is guaranteed paid maternity leave. On the other, most women do not qualify for free health care and one in five under 65 does not have medical insurance. (referring to Canada and the US)

  The United States ranked sixth among the 19 countries in the Group of 20 economies. (numbers 2-5 are: Germany, Britain, Australia and France)

  Neither Canada nor the United States has been able to resolve the gender pay gap.
  
  India's women are discriminated against, abused and even killed on a scale unparalleled in the top 19 economies of the world. Many of the crimes against women are in India's heavily populated northern plains, where, in parts, there is a deep-rooted mindset that women are inferior and must be restricted to being homemakers and child bearers.

  Now of course this doesn't mean that there are no positives in India among the treatment of women, they are just the findings of this particular study. Clearly though all the countries need to continue to work to improve the lives of women...... some more than others. By failing to protect women and giving them the equality they deserve, countries are failing themselves and prospects for a bright future. Women have so much to contribute to this world, and until they are appreciated fully and given equality, all of the opportunities, and rights that men have, no country should stop working in terms of futhering the advancement of women's rights.

  And the countries which are doing better with women need to put pressure on the countries not doing so well, though they certainly need to keep an eye in their own backyard as well ensuring everything is up to par for all of their own women. It's good to read some positives here, but clearly there is much work still to be done.... I just hope everyone is up to the task. For the next question:

  Do you feel that your city is a great place for women, why or why not ? What needs to change ?

  I will leave you all with my final set of pictures from Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver. Take care and I'll talk to you all on Friday, bye for now.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  Sources: The Vancouver Sun June 14, 2012

  The Status of Women: Canada is best G20 country for females. By Lisa Anderson. TrustLaw via Reuters

  'It's a miracle a woman survives.' By Nita Bhalla. TrustLaw via Reuters

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