On March 8, people around the world will celebrate the contributions of girls and women, giving focus to issues such as gender equality, gender-based violence and violations, and reproductive justice.
York University has a long-standing reputation for its leadership in gender equality scholarship and research. The collective efforts of our students, faculty, course instructors, staff and alumni have significantly advanced the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 5: Gender Equality and are aligned with the United Nations’ 2025 theme for International Women’s Day: For ALL women and girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment.
Some of our community’s many achievements in this area include:
- Faculty of Health students and alumnae Alina Khan, Anushka Nair, Parmin Rahimpoor-Marnani, Parminda Shokoohi and Mina Soufi founded Hygiene Haven to address the reproductive and menstrual health needs of underserved women, including those experiencing homelessness and poverty. Their initiative is funded by Calumet & Stong Colleges’ Agents of Change Program, a catalyst for York students who are driving positive change through health-centred social enterprise.
- Led by staff members in the Division of Research & Innovation in collaboration with community and industry partners, the ELLA Women Accelerator program empowers women entrepreneurs.
- The Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies’ Advancing YU mentoring program has a stream dedicated to connecting undergraduate women students with successful York University alumnae. Through meetings with their mentors, work with the career centre, workshops and personal reflections, students are supported in imagining and preparing for their professional futures.
- Integrating creativity, community and empowerment, women who have served time in Canadian prisons are imagining more hopeful futures and reclaiming a sense of joy through a restorative art-making program, The Circle Project, co-led by filmmaker and York University Professor Brenda Longfellow.
- The accomplishments of extraordinary York alumnae such as Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, Ghana’s first female vice-president, exemplify the impact women leaders can have on societal progress.
We invite you to participate in International Women’s Day to celebrate the cultural, economic, political and social achievements of women and girls around the world, and to learn more about the barriers to gender equality that still remain. Together, we can ensure that everyone has the chance to flourish and contribute to a more equitable and prosperous future.
Thank you. Merci. Miigwech.
Rhonda L. Lenton
President & Vice-Chancellor
Laina Y. Bay-Cheng
Vice-President, Equity, People & Culture