International Women’s Day:
A Seven Oaks interview with Claire Robillard
March 8 , 2004
Stephen Hui
Seven Oaks: When and why did you get involved with organising International Women's Day?
Claire Robillard: I guess it was in the fall of 1993. I basically responded to the call that Vancouver Status of Women had put out through Kinesis. That's kind of how it all started for me. From that year on, I just got involved every year.
S.O.: What are the main demands or themes of this year's International Women's Day in Vancouver?
Robillard: This year our theme is: "Stop the attacks on women at home and abroad." What we're really doing is speaking to the ever-increasing negative effects of globalisation, capitalism, and patriarchy. We thought this year it was particularly important to emphasise the devastating cuts to social programs and jobs in B.C. We think it really mirrors the continual erosion of living conditions for women and their families all over the world.
S.O.: What are the greatest threats to women's equality in B.C. today?
Robillard: I think it's the Liberal government's stand on privatisation -- giving corporations the big break, all at the expense of working women and men. To me, that's the biggest threat. It's just B.C. joining hand in hand with corporations to ensure just the whole privatisation, that everything's done for profit, and, I guess, making the priority money -- profits versus us as human beings.
S.O.: At the end of the month, provincial funding to women's centres across the province will be cut by 100 per cent. How significant is the role of women's centres in B.C.?
Robillard: I think it's significant. Because, where are women going to go if they're in abusive situations? Where are they going to go for resources? The government is cutting everything from housing to home care, to support for people with disabilities. We just heard they're cutting one of the safe programs for Aboriginal youth. There's nowhere for women and people who are in need to go.
S.O.: Given that the B.C. Liberals' cuts impact working class and poor women most severely, is it fair to say that an effective women's movement must have a class analysis of women's oppression?
Robillard: Yes, I think it's absolutely fair. I think the women's movement -- as with many local, Lower Mainland organisations, provincial, national -- I think that one of the things that we need to do as a leftist movement is to start developing more analysis about what we're doing. I think we spend a lot of time on small actions. Or, even if they're big actions -- if you take last fall. I think it was in October, November; we had 45,000 people out in the streets in protest against the invasion of Iraq. But we soon saw the numbers dwindle after that. I think we really do need to build coalitions, start working together, and figure out, you know, where we're going with all this. I think that political actions are absolutely essential. But I think that we need to get organised.
S.O.: What is the state of the women's movement in British Columbia?
Robillard: In British Columbia, I think the women's movement -- as with many other political organisations -- we're fragmented. We're not really organised on a political level. For instance, there has been some rallying of women's groups together in response to the government cutbacks. But I think we need to go further than that. I think we really need to build our alliances in a much more significant way and have a united front.
S.O.: Are progressives, in general, guilty of neglecting women's issues and the importance of the women's movement, perhaps seeing women's equality as a battle that has largely been won?
Robillard: I think that women's issues are generally [given] lesser importance. I think if you take the B.C. Federation of Labour's response to all the cutbacks, and the thousands and thousands of jobs that have been cut in the health sector, it does beg the question: Is that because it's mostly women's work? Why haven't they rallied in support? I mean, we've had some involvement, and they've certainly supported us in terms of IWD. But I think that certainly, it does beg the question: If this was a male dominated field, would we be seeing more support? I don't know. I think that's a difficult question to answer.
S.O.: How much does patriarchy affect the dynamics of progressive social movements?
Robillard: I think it affects it quite a bit. I think that we still see, you know, women's issues are still kind of last to come on the table. There's a reluctance to identify and recognise that if anybody's going to be affected, it'll be women. If you take, for example, the cutbacks in home care, the cutbacks in terms of social services for people with disabilities, the pressure that families are having to keep their elderly at home, to look after their children with disabilities -- that work falls on women. It doesn't fall on men. It's women that are going to pick up the pieces, figure something out, and live another day.
S.O.: The emphasis given to the demand for abortion rights has always been debated by feminists. Here in Vancouver, there was the shooting and stabbing of abortion doctor Garson Romalis. Do you see the right to choose to have an abortion -- to control one's body -- as still being a central demand of the women's movement?
Robillard: Absolutely, and I think that we're very threatened. We just have to look to our neighbours, the Bush administration. I think that what we have gained here is at risk. In terms of globalisation, I think that the right to have an abortion is always being threatened. We need to keep that right up there, in terms of our demands.
S.O.: What are some of the most inspiring examples globally of women taking leading roles in effecting social change?
Robillard: I think International Women's Day was a damn good example. When the garment workers went out on strike -- that was mostly women textile workers -- I think that that was a very significant event in the women's movement. I can't say that there's one particular thing that stands out in my mind. I think that when feminism was first articulated, I think that was a huge step forward for the women's movement, certainly in North America for sure, and in Europe. I think it's a very different story for developing countries.
S.O.: How do people who don't necessarily conform to the binary gender categories of women and men, such as trans, intersex, and gender queer people, fit into International Women's Day and the women's movement?
Robillard: I think the whole transgender issue has been one that, certainly in B.C., has been hotly debated within the women's movement. I think the issue of where transgender people fit in -- how people define themselves -- I think that whole area is a very complex issue. What makes a person a woman? How long do they have to experience life as a woman? Socialisation, all that -- I think it's very complicated. And, I think that it's one of the areas that the women's movement -- I can only speak for B.C. and more particular, the Lower Mainland -- we really need to have those discussions. We haven't had them. There's been the court case with Vancouver Rape Relief. There's been other women's organisations taking a position one way or the other. But there hasn't been a coming together of all of us, having those discussions together, and working it out, and figuring out: What are we talking about? How do we define ourselves? And, where do we stand on the issue? I think it really needs to be discussed. It's just not that simple.
S.O.: There are a lot of misconceptions and stereotypes surrounding feminism and feminists. What would you say to somebody who thinks feminism is a dirty word?
Robillard: That they're burying their head in the sand. And, feminists have been working very hard and for a long time to raise awareness, to put women on equal standing with men, to earn decent wages.
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