Canada: Feminist activist targets male-dominated government, ice rinks

Article here. Excerpt:

Public toilets and ice time are just two of a "million" things that could be better planned with women in mind, says Prabha Khosla.

'The feminist planner, researcher and activist, who is a founding member of Toronto Women's City Alliance and the author of a recent UN-HABITAT publication on gender and local government, will speak at the city's International Women's Day Celebration in council chambers March 9.

Khosla, who works internationally and lives between Toronto and Vancouver, says administrators in charge of Toronto's skating arenas allotted ice time for hockey players based on who had held slots in the past.

"Because guys had been getting all that ice time, they always got the first dibs," she said.

Once decision makers consciously consider equity and equality, they realize change is needed, Khosla says, so that women and girls don't have to slap pucks at 3 a.m.
...
Decisions about infrastructure, sports and recreation, public transit, public toilets and neighbourhood design would better suit women, seniors and multicultural groups if they were considered through a gender lens, Khosla says, who cited the example of better lighting around bus stops.'

Khosla argued International Women's Day, March 8, is an important moment to acknowledge the struggles and strengths of women.

Women have been marking an International Women's Day since 1911 when activists fought for the right to vote, to hold public office, to work in safe working conditions and fair wages without discrimination, and for all citizens to live peacefully and without poverty.

The United Nations began celebrating March 8 as International Women's Day in 1975, International Women's Year. The UN proclaimed it the day for Women's Rights and International Peace two years later.