Edited by Tasmiyah Randeree
“Behind every strong woman is a tribe of other women supporting her”, this is a phrase I’ve seen play out my entire life. More recently, I’ve seen the work of women empowerment through a new organization appropriately entitled empoWer.
What is empoWer? empoWer is a non-for-profit aimed at empowering women and minorities across all professions. Although the organization’s main focus is women, empoWer fosters inclusivity among men and women and believes dialogue, participation, and involvement between both genders is necessary to create equality.
Just as there are strong women behind every strong woman, there is a strong woman behind every female lead organization. EmpoWer’s strong woman founder is Sabrina Chee, a fourth year University of Toronto student studying Political Science. As the president and founder, Sabrina plays a pivotal role in empoWer’s development growth. When asked about what inspired her to start empoWer, Sabrina said, “ I wanted a platform for people to debate and discuss issues pertaining to feminism, and provide an all inclusive environment for people to get involved and do something tangible with the resources that they have and provide them [with] those opportunities.” As a minority woman herself, Sabrina has experienced the structural and institutional inequalities that govern our everyday life and feels that it’s important to become an advocate in our everyday lives to empower the women around us. She states, “I wanted to think global, act local therefore I started this organization to empower women and men in the Toronto area through conferences, networking events, and volunteering opportunities.” EmpoWer looks forward to hosting future round table discussions on topics related to gender inequality, conferences, and volunteer opportunities.
I got the amazing opportunity of attending empoWer Toronto’s launch event on October 19th, 2018. The event fostered incredible dialogue among men and women across many programs of study, about what empowerment meant to them, and what changes they wished to see in the future at both the micro and macro level. Professor Kerry Taylor, from the University of Toronto Criminology and Sociolegal Studies department was a keynote speaker at the event and she stated that the process of empowerment starts with the self; when you empower yourself through developing confidence and your voice, you can empower others. Dr. Taylor stated, “We can change so much about us, and so much about yourself. My students ask me all the time, Professor Taylor, how do I change the world? And you don’t change the world, you change you and then the world will feel that reverberation. It’s not about attacking the government, or attacking men, it’s about being gentle and inclusive.” The event was well attended by both men and women and several men stated their enthusiasm to contribute to gender equality. A male attendee stated his desire to give women more opportunities to achieve their career goals and remove the stigma behind stay at home fathers.
EmpoWer provides a refreshing contribution to feminist movements through its participation of both men and women. As empoWer is still growing and they are looking for passionate advocates to join their executive team. Follow empoWer on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for updates and to help re write Herstory.