FACL BC Statement on International Women’s Day
March 8, 2022
Today, on International Women’s Day, FACL BC celebrates the achievements of women and girls in all of their diversity, here in British Columbia and around the world. We honour those who stand up for gender and racial equality, in big and small ways. We also affirm our commitment to advocating for gender equality and uplifting the voices of Asian women in the legal community.
International Women’s Day this year comes at an important time for us all to reaffirm our dedication to working towards a society that defends and advocates for freedom and equality. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an alarming rise of racist incidents against Asian people across North America, including an increase in violence against Asian women in particular.
This year’s International Women’s Day theme, #BreakTheBias, reminds us all that everyone still has work to do to break down both explicit and implicit biases.
FACL BC imagines and is committed to a world, including a legal community, free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination. We celebrate the careers of our many brilliant women lawyers and jurists in Canada, including that of Justice Baljinder Girn, who was recently appointed to the BC Supreme Court, and look forward to a day where the justices on the Supreme Court of Canada reflect Canada’s gender and racial diversity.
We encourage you to read our resource list to highlight the voices and work of Asian women in the legal profession: Amplifying Asian Women in Law: A FACL BC International Women’s Day Resource List (2021) https://faclbc.ca/News/10175168.
Last year, FACL BC also released the documentary “But I Look Like a Lawyer”, which shares the stories of discrimination, stereotyping and bias experienced by members of the Pan-Asian legal community (https://faclbc.ca/documentary). We continue to hold up a mirror to our profession, in order to address the biases within. We encourage legal professionals to be active participants in working towards achieving gender equality, and building a profession and society free of bias and discrimination.
