Qulliit celebrates International Women’s Day

SARA MINOGUE

The Qulliit Status of Women Council is getting ready to celebrate International Women’s Day on Tuesday, and they want to help women across the territory celebrate as well.

“There’s an awful lot of strength in our women across Nunavut,” says Joyce Aylward, the group’s executive director in Iqaluit.

“On events like this, we can stop, pause, and challenge people across the territory to think about their wives, mothers, sisters, the women in their lives, how far they’ve come, and what can we do to help them go further.”

Qulliit mailed information packages to social workers and nursing stations across the territory, explaining what International Women’s Day is all about, and offering suggestions on ways to celebrate.

Some of the ideas include making posters, holding informal women’s gatherings, celebrating women leaders at a community feast, or interviewing local women on community radio.

In Iqaluit, Qulliit will host a Women’s Arts and Crafts Fair at the Parish Hall on Tuesday evening.

They’ll use the same event to promote the new Iqaluit Women’s Group, a grassroots effort that got underway on Jan. 23 when several local women decided they needed a special group to deal with women’s issues unique to Iqaluit.

Following the craft fair, the Iqaluit Women’s Group will meet again on March 19. The meeting will be attended by members of Qulliit as well as Pauktuutit, the national Inuit women’s group. All women of Iqaluit are invited to join.

For Aylward, the new group represents momentum towards the goal of a network of women’s groups across the territory, all feeding information to Qulliit, which in turn, could feed its information to Pauktuutit.

“The churches always have a women’s group,” says Rhoda Ungalaq, a board member with Qulliit. “Every community has a women’s group, but it’s not really connected to the status of women.”

Both women would like to see Qulliit tap into those groups that are already active in every community, organizing feasts, looking after the community hall, and sometimes even supporting individuals who need help.

“Historically, church women’s groups did the social work job,” Aylward says.

The goal for Qulliit is to make women — and men —recognize the work that they do.

“We’re the caretakers, we’re the helpers, we’re the assistants,” Aylward says. “How do we help women see that, see themselves in that, and see the value of that, so they can actually get out from behind the scenes and become the leaders?”

But in many cases, women will always be the ones working quietly in the communities.

“There are lots of women leaders,” Ungalaq says. “They normally do it without having a big show. They’re doing things underneath the table.”

International Women’s Day is a worldwide event that has been celebrated since at least 1911.

For more information on the Women’s Arts and Crafts Fair, call Qulliit at 979-6690, or drop by the office where you can relax on their couches and also find information related to women’s health, women in politics and violence against women.