Last weekend, women’s marches across the globe took place in an empowering move toward equality. Putting Trump politics aside, these events garnered attendance from hundreds of thousands of people; women and men alike, who were making their voices heard on several different issues. The women’s marches became a news story and resulted in both support and mockery from the public.
Whether you support the marches are not, they have certainly brought up important issues of equality and human rights. One issue that became particularly clear to me, in the overall fight for equality, is the significance of representation.
Racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination are often the result of larger systems in our society – our governments, media, education systems, and justice systems. When these systems perpetuate discrimination, we allow it to continue. So, what is missing from these systems?
Large systemic issues of racism and sexism are very complex, however, it is clear there is an absence of representation that maintains the status quo. When positions of power are not open to women, people of colour, or people with disabilities, it limits the ability of that community to be heard.
Christy Lopez, Deputy Chief in the Special Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, spoke at the University of Alberta campus last year. She spoke of her investigation in the town of Ferguson, Missouri; made famous by the turbulent relationship between the Ferguson police and the black community.
She pointed to the lack of representation within the police force as a factor that perpetuated tensions. When a community is primarily made up of people of colour, and yet the authority figures are primarily white, there is ultimately a lack of understanding on both sides. It perpetuates an us-against-them mentality.
Lack of representation is not just a problem seen in police forces. In the media, stories that are not able-bodied, white, and male-centric are rare. The Oscars are being praised this year for being less white. However, we have a long way to go. Stories that are diverse give the everyday people mirrored in them a voice. It gives children hope when they see people who look like them in positions of power.
A lack of representation can be seen in our own governments, in our own community. Our city council is completely made up of white individuals, and with only two women out of seven positions. In a community that is diversifying, it is important we have voices in power that mirror that diversity.
Many individuals interested in issues of racism, sexism and human rights travel to Edmonton to join efforts in the name of equality made there. I believe it is time we make efforts here in our community, in the city of St. Albert, to include a variety of voices, on a variety of issues that we seem to ignore.
Jennifer Hamilton is a local student and writer.
