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Projects
To see some photographs and other details of current projects, have a look at our Scrapbook.
Constitute!Shot intensively over 3 days at the Canadian Forum on Women's Activism in Constitutional and Democratic Reform, the documentary will look at the history of women's rights activism in Canada and how the feminist message is being carried on today by a whole new generation of activists. Specifically, we are profiling women's role in constitution building and making in 4 countries - Canada, South Africa, Rwanda and Afghanistan. How have women changed the constitutions in their emerging democracies? On Valentine's Day, 25 years ago, an Ad Hoc committee of women gathered for a conference that fundamentally changed Canadian history by ensuring that the rights of women were written into the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. 25 years later, on the same day, in the same room on Parliament Hill, a new conference took place where many of the original women joined politicians, international women's rights leaders, and a new generation of students and activists to celebrate the past and pass the torch of feminism to a new generation of activists. Women across the generations agree that there remains much work to be done in the realm of women's rights. While many advances have been made, there remain areas, the issue of violence against women for example, where surprisingly there has been no statistical progress. In other areas, such as childcare and equal representation in government, it appears that advances made in the past are actually being eroded. Now in the early stages of post-production, the documentary is shot using two film crews: a professional crew featuring award-winning journalist Sally Armstrong, and a student crew featuring aspiring journalist Meara Michalska. This dual shooting style highlights the intergenerational nature of the conference, placing equal emphasis on established and up and coming activists. While many young women today no longer identify themselves as "feminists," it is clear they continue to fight for the rights of women in novel and progressive ways, expanding their activism to fight for equality in all facets of society. Representatives from Rwanda, South Africa, and Afghanistan put the issues in a global context, demonstrating the need for women the world over to work together to ensure the advancement of women's rights into the future. With footage shot by Rooney Productions, this educational DVD project is produced by IWRP and partnering with the British Columbia Teacher's Federation, the University of Victoria's Faculties of Education and Law, the Law Foundation of BC, the Human Rights Research and Education Centre at the University of Ottawa, the Ontario Justice Education Network, the University of Winnipeg Global College, and others. For more information on how to support this project contact the IWRP Director, Susan Bazilli. Prognosis for the Inequality Virus: Gender, Democracy, Reconstruction and HIV/AIDS in Southern AfricaIWRP completed this concept paper for the Commonwealth Secretariat in July 2006. Peace and Security: Implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1325Tuesday 30 May to Friday 2 June 2006 - Wilton Park Conference IWRP Participated in the conference on Peace and Security: Implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1325. In co-operation with the UK Government's Global Conflict Prevention Pool, the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Canadian International Development Agency and in partnership with Gender Action for Peace and Security (GAPS). This conference provided a forum for discussion of the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1325 drawing together policy makers with practitioners working on the ground in order to find constructive ways forward. What are the challenges in implementing the measures set out in SCR 1325 to ensure the equal participation of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts and in peace-building? How effective are international, inter-governmental and regional organisations? What more can de done to bridge policy and practice? What can be learnt from progress to date? Are there existing tools that can be better utilised? Are the appropriate resources in place? How best to identify and establish funding to support initiatives? What methodologies can be applied to identify and train women to fulfil the roles identified in SCR 1325?
International Women's Day EventsSince 2004, in March each year, IWRP organizes a local International Women's Day event in collaboration with local partners at the University of Victoria and the greater Victoria community. In 2006, the IWD event was organized by IWRP's Ashley Heaslip in partnership with the Victoria Status of Women Action Group and the Victoria Coalition for Community Women. Keynote speaker was Terri Brown, a member of the Tahltan First Nation and the first Aboriginal President of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women; along with other community speakers - Minneh Kamau on HIV/AIDS advocacy; Kinwa Bluesky, an Oji-Cre artist from the Sandy Lake First Nation and a member of the Indigenous Law Studen't Association, along with Miranda Moore, a UVic law student; and Marilou McPhedran, IWRP.
Annual Lived Rights Lecture at the University of VictoriaSponsored by the University of Victoria, IWRP holds an annual lecture on Lived Rights. The inaugural lecture was given in February 2006 by Dr. Sima Samar, Chair of the Independent Afghan Human Rights Commission of Afghanistan, on the situation of women in Afghanistan. The second annual Lived Rights Lecture will be given as part of the IWRP International Women's Day program for 2007, held on March 9th at the University of Victoria. IWRP is honoured to have the noted journalist, editor and author Sally Armstrong present this lecture, Human Rights - Human Wrongs. The third annual Lived Rights Lecture, January 30 2008, is presented by Shauna Sylvester, Director of Canada's World on the role of Canada in the world. The 2009 lecture will be given by Salimah Ebrahim, Chair of the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition.
Susan Bazilli attended the World Economic Forum, Africa Economic Summit, 1-3 June, 2005, in Cape Town, South Africa.Below she's provided a review of 'Women's Empowerment: Measuring the Global Gender Gap.': 'Countries that do not capitalize on the full potential of one half of their societies are misallocating their human resources and undermining their competitive potential,' says the World Economic Forum in its report 'Women's Empowerment: Measuring the Global Gender Gap.' The report contains the findings of an assessment carried out by the organization, which is an international NGO based in Geneva, Switzerland. Read Susan Bazilli's review of this event. (PDF format)
With thanks: original site created by Kelly Mannix. Maintained and updated by Nina Cherington. |
