鈥淪he believed she could, so she did.鈥 鈥 R.S. Grey
International Women鈥檚 Day has been around for more than a century, marked on March 8 each year.
Canada has made great strides over the years, with an equal number of men and women appointed to the federal cabinet in 2015 for the first time in the country's history. Provincially, B.C. hit gender parity in the legislature for the first time following the October 2024 provincial election. Federally, 103 female MPs are members of the 338-member House of Commons, or 30 per cent, which Statistics Canada says ranks Canada at 56th in the world in terms of share of female parliamentarians.
A also shows that women represent 31 per cent of all municipal elected representatives in Canada.
At a community level, Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke and White Rock Mayor Megan Knight are part of the growing number of women occupying elected leadership positions.
But they worry the gains Canada has seen won't continue with the rising tide of hate and misogyny directed at women in elected office.
Locke is concerned that the current climate online is a deterrent to women stepping up.
鈥淭his kind of behaviour is very divisive in communities. It鈥檚 also very discouraging for women to get into public life. 鈥 We need more women to get into public life 鈥 I鈥檝e actually had young women say to me, who I鈥檇 love to mentor, 鈥楴o I don鈥檛 think I could take it,鈥 Locke said.
In a , Knight also spoke about the challenges of being an elected official.
"From the get go 鈥 all of a sudden people don鈥檛 like you 鈥 you鈥檙e getting attacked for a decision you made ... 'Why did you say that?' or 'Why did you do that?'" she said. "It is tough nowadays with social media."
Maite Taboada, an SFU professor and academic, said that sadly, misogyny "has been a huge part" of online spaces, including gaming sites as well as social media.
"(Misogyny) is just part of our society, like racism is, like homophobia is. ... What I seem to see in politics is a weaponization of that for political purposes," she said. "It鈥檚 a problem when people feel they cannot participate. When we start losing those people (i.e. females, minorities, etc.) in public spaces, that is a problem with democracy."
'It emboldens bigotry'
It鈥檚 not like misogyny, racism and hate are new.
UBC political science professor Terri Givens, who studies what she calls the radical right, said that, when a personality like U.S. President Donald Trump gets elected, it gives others confidence to express their own, similar views.
鈥淭rump just tapped into what was already there. Every society has a theme of violence against women, against people who are different 鈥 I hate to say it, but I think it鈥檚 times of being more civilized that are more rare,鈥 she said.
Givens said that, when a personality like Trump gets elected, it gives others confidence to express their own, similar views.
鈥淯nfortunately what this does is, it emboldens bigotry 鈥 Part of the reason Trump got re-elected is because he says things out loud that a lot of people resonate with,鈥 she said.
Take the man who held up a sign at a Texas university shortly after Trump was elected in 2024 stating 鈥榃omen Are Property." Or the X post from white nationalist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes saying, 鈥淵our body, my choice. Forever,鈥 which garnered more than 90 million views in just a few days.
While it鈥檚 not just women who are attacked on social media and in other online forums, reports show women face a disproportionate amount of online abuse compared to their male counterparts.
All across Europe, the U.K., Asia, the U.S. and Canada, there are reports that confirm what most women 鈥 especially women in prominent or leadership positions 鈥 already know: They will be attacked more online and treated differently from their male colleagues.
In Canada, the Standing Committee on the Status of Women, 2017 found that women, girls, and gender-diverse people are at and hate, especially the most severe types of harassment and sexualized abuse. in 2019 showed 67 per cent of those who report online intimidation to police are women and girls, and one in five women report experiencing online harassment.
In Spain, a that online misogyny and denigration of female politicians focused on disparaging attacks about the female body, with those who were overweight being the most vilified.
that online abuse of women is widespread in the U.K., with one in five women having suffered online abuse or harassment.
Being a global issue, it鈥檚 no wonder the reverberations of blatant online chauvinism, discrimination, bullying and racism have made their way to the local level.
Online abuse common right here at home
Knight, in the same podcast, talked about how she鈥檚 treated differently than her male colleagues, noting she gets attacked for everything from her wardrobe or hairstyle to her jewelry.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 tough being a woman too 鈥 I get slammed about a dress I鈥檒l wear, I get slammed about the colour of my hair, or 鈥榊ou wore that outfit at another event,鈥欌 Knight shared. 鈥淗mmmmm 鈥 you don鈥檛 say that about a man in a suit or a man that鈥檚 wearing shorts and a golf shirt, no 鈥 but as a woman, you get attacked about everything, even your jewelry 鈥 my husband gave me a nice ring for my engagement ring, now I鈥檓 a rich person. I get slammed on a lot of things and I don鈥檛 think men do, so it鈥檚 a little tougher on us."
White Rock councillors Elaine Cheung and Michele Partridge receive more than their share of online abuse, sometimes coming in the form of casual sexism from the members of the public who address them as "girls" during question period, or even a male counterpart on council who called the pair "girls" in an online post.
Locke agreed she gets treated differently than her male colleagues, adding she gets attacked for her clothes or her hair or many other things not related to her role as mayor, on a constant basis.
Such online or emailed abuse is not rare, she noted.
鈥淭his isn鈥檛 just something that happens on a monthly or weekly (basis) 鈥 this is going on often, every single day,鈥 Locke said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 ongoing and absolutely on social media. There鈥檚 no doubt there is significant 鈥 significant 鈥 bullying and misogyny and aggression and general bad manners and lack of decorum. 鈥 It has changed over the past number of years.鈥
'I do live in a reality where I expect racism'
The issue can be further complicated for women of colour, who face the added layer of racism.
Cheung and Partridge point to comments from some social media users who disagreed on how the pair voted at council meetings 鈥 particularly when it comes to highrises in the seaside city.
鈥淐heung and Partridge want White Rock to look more Hong Kongish. Just like home!鈥 one local resident posted on Facebook.
鈥淟et鈥檚 face it, White Rock we will soon look like Hong Kong if these city councillors and mayor have their way,鈥 another post read.
(Cheung is from Hong Kong, where she was born and lived until she was nine, but Partridge is not.)
The one commenter who returned a call from PAN denied the post was racist 鈥 it was, he said, merely about housing and the councillors' promise to follow the OCP prior to their election 鈥 but the councillors say it is just one illustration of the way they are "denigrated" online.
鈥淭his is something we鈥檝e been dealing with for (more than) two years," Partridge said.
"The reason we ran, like everybody runs, is because you love where you live and you want to try to make change and progress and you go in with the best of intentions,鈥 Partridge said. 鈥淎nd then to literally be emailed, in person, online, letters to the editor 鈥 to constantly be insulted and name-called and denigrated 鈥 (Elaine and I) are like, 鈥榃hat have we done wrong? What are we doing wrong?鈥 And they won鈥檛 tell you, they鈥檒l just name-call and yell at you.鈥
Cheung echoed Locke's concerns about women, and others, choosing not to participate in public roles.
鈥淲e have a decline of qualified people going into politics 鈥 men and women 鈥 because of these keyboard warriors,鈥 Cheung said. 鈥淚t shows the undercurrents of a very negative and fear-based society 鈥 the second they read something on the internet they don鈥檛 do the research, they just instantly react in a negative way.鈥
Even Peace Arch News employees aren鈥檛 immune from today鈥檚 abusive social media environment. After writing a story about schools being overcrowded in Surrey, reporter Sobia Moman was targeted by an online troll.
鈥淲hy don鈥檛 you write about how your filthy race is destroying the country and overcrowding every place instead of avoiding the topic,鈥 the troll commented on X.
Moman said that, sadly, she is used to such behaviour because it is common.
"I do live in a reality where I expect racism to come towards me and other racialized people. This person is not even close to the first to send me racist messages. ... I am fairly used to it and expect it, not only because of our social climate, but also because of the rise in hatred and mistrust towards journalists in the last few years."
Having close acquaintances who have her back helps, she noted.
"I鈥檝e been brown my whole life, I鈥檝e been a woman my whole life and I鈥檝e been Muslim my whole life who also grew up in a post-9/11 world. I experienced racism before I even knew what what it was when I was a child, so coming from that lens, you sort of feel like this type of rhetoric is normal," she said.
"What this person said to me is not the worst I鈥檝e heard. ... Having colleagues and friends who have been supportive after this person said something hateful towards me publicly is what actually matters to me and what has honestly made me pretty emotional.
"That is what I am choosing to put my energy into, rather than a nameless individual on social media spewing hate."
'I've personally had two death threats'
Givens, a person of colour, has also experienced online abuse.
"I鈥檝e definitely experienced it in various ways as far as the name-calling and trolling ... you have to think what do these people want? They want your response, so if you respond, they鈥檝e won."
The issue is much larger than people being rude or insulting online, she continued.
"It's this lack of civility that goes beyond a lack of civility. Words have gotten so violent," she said.
Locke agrees.
鈥淚 have personally had two death threats," she said.
"The whole attitude of the public has changed a great deal. 鈥 (People feel) emboldened to say things that are completely inappropriate,鈥 she said, adding this isn鈥檛 just a local issue. 鈥淔emale politicians right across the country 鈥 I can tell you, women in politics are dealing with similar aggression.鈥
Givens, an American herself, is concerned about such hate and threats escalating to violence.
鈥淐onservatives are are tapping into fear, and often, that fear turns into violence. Now, the target is women because men are afraid that women are getting power and influence, and they鈥檝e been fed all these stories about how women should be subservient, whether it鈥檚 through religion or their ideas about what鈥檚 traditional.鈥
She fears, too, for a rise in attacks based on racial background 鈥 or the appearance thereof, since many people make decisions on appearance alone.
鈥淚 worry more attacks, not just on women, but because immigration is such a huge topic. If you鈥檙e Asian or (from a) certain background, they say you鈥檙e an immigrant," she said.
"The idea that we鈥檙e demonizing immigrants for the housing crisis is just so frustrating. People are hurting because of inequality, not because of any benefits that are going to immigrants or to people of colour or anything like that."
'Our male allies need to call out bad behaviour'
So what's to be done?
Givens 鈥 like Locke, Knight, Partridge and Cheung 鈥 keeps a carefully curated social media presence and tries not to engage with online trolls and abusers, as that is exactly what many online trolls want.
Moving forward, Givens said everyone should be stepping up and speaking out 鈥 and not just women.
鈥淪peak up! Speak up, say what you think. Women leaders 鈥 every single leader who cares about democracy and the future of the world, it鈥檚 not just the U.S. or Canada or the U.K. 鈥 every single country out there needs to have people who are shining a light and saying, 鈥榊es, we believe in democracy, we believe people should have a voice,' and we also believe we need a media that is fair and is actually giving us the real news and that isn鈥檛 controlled by oligarchs, so we need to support independent media people who are doing the work on the ground.鈥
She called on people elected to power to lead by example.
鈥淭he people who are in power need to step up. We need inclusive leaders,鈥 she said. 鈥淭his is a situation where our male allies need to call out bad behaviour.鈥
Knight said she will continue to make the decisions she feels are right, online abuse or not.
"You just have to move on ... you have to make the right choices. Say I vote 'yes' to this 鈥 I鈥檓 going to stand behind it, and if I vote something 'no,' (I) just have to say, 'This is what I鈥檓 doing for the community,' not these five people that are after me or being nasty."
With happening this Saturday (March 8), Locke stressed the need for everyone to band together against bad behaviour.
鈥淎s mayor of a city the size of Surrey, I just want to really emphasize to everyone the importance of kindness, of being respectful to other people 鈥 not just in our community or just for today, but all the time. We all need to unite against bullying behaviour, and we all need to speak up about bullying behaviour when we see it.鈥
