A lot can happen when women lace up steel-toed boots. For Sheila Martinez, a graduate of YWCA Toronto’s Pre-Apprenticeship Carpentry program for women, entering the skilled trades has been a life-changer. As a single mom who has always loved to do her own plumbing, work outdoors and solve problems with her hands, carpentry was a […]
By YWCA Toronto volunteer Geneviève François-Kermode Street harassment: if you’re a woman, you’re probably well aware of it. In fact, you’ve probably experienced it more times than you can count. I know I have. Everything from the usual “Hey, beautiful” to men whistling at me from their cars, to the latest incident: a man in his […]
As a feminist organization, we are often asked what feminism means right now, in the real world. Many of the issues that took our tenacious, demonstrating sisters of the ’70s and ’80s to the streets remain obstinately the same, but how we make ourselves heard has gone from megaphones to megabytes. Today’s young feminists don’t have […]
Last week, YWCA Toronto and other Canadian women’s organizations sent a letter urging our federal government to support efforts to bring home Nigeria’s kidnapped school girls, and to develop a national strategy to address rampant violence against women in Canada and around the world. Read the letter below. May 29, 2014 Right Honourable Stephen Harper […]
Last week, we hosted the 34th annual YWCA Toronto Women of Distinction Awards (presented by Sun Life) to honour seven extraordinary women and raise essential funds for YWCA Toronto programs and services. In case you missed this remarkable event, check out our Storify recap of guests’ tweets and Instagrams throughout the evening. The ceremony was […]
Every day at YWCA Toronto we run a long-distance race toward an ambitious but attainable finish line: equality, independence and freedom from violence for women and girls. To win this race, we need the help of other runners. That’s where the Bang & Olufsen Yorkville Run – and you – come in. The B&O Yorkville […]
Guest blog by Nancy Coldham, YWCA Toronto 2014 Woman of Distinction A recent blog post by Steve Paikin, host of TVO debate program The Agenda, woke me up to the unbelievable reality that someone who hosts a publicly-funded program could struggle to find women experts to appear on his show. My career in public affairs […]
On March 6th, in anticipation of International Women’s Day, YWCA Toronto announced the recipients of the 34th YWCA Toronto Women of Distinction Awards at an alumnae reception hosted by TD Bank Group. The seven recipients are bold women whose vision and determination are significantly improving the lives of women and girls at home and abroad. […]
On March 8th, we celebrate International Women’s Day. As more and more girls grow up online, it’s important to explore the ways that technology can be a tool used for violence – or empowerment. This International Women’s Day, we look at how the same old gender stereotypes can manifest in online communication, and what girls […]
By Jamie Irvine, YWCA Toronto Advocacy and Communications team member When I tell people that I’m currently completing a student internship at YWCA Toronto, a feminist women’s organization, one of the most common responses I hear is “How can you work there? You’re a guy!” This is often followed by the argument that men can’t […]
