St. Vital teen shedding light on gender equality

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This article was published 06/04/2021 (1669 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Feliciaa Baldner is preparing to hold her latest virtual event that promotes gender equality.

The free workshop is called Building an allyship together with women and girls to end gender-based violence and will be held on Monday, April 12 from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. The event is presented by White Ribbon in partnership with Genequ, Baldner’s own foundation.

“This workshop aims to educate the population about gender-based violence and its impacts on women, especially during the pandemic,” Baldner, 14, told The Lance recently.

“Due to the lockdowns, women have been trapped at home with their abusers. This has led to an exponential increase in the number of gender-based violence cases against women. I believe that due to these statistics, our community needed this workshop now more than ever.”

Baldner, a Grade 9 student at Kelvin High School, said there is no targeted audience for the upcoming workshop, and everyone is welcome to register.

“I’ve notified my school and added the workshop’s poster in our monthly newsletters. I’ve also shared information about the workshop with my peers and members of the community.

“Genequ has partnered with White Ribbon, an organization that challenges negative, outdated concepts of manhood, to host this workshop because we support their values and mission statement,” she said.

This isn’t the first time Baldner has held a virtual event. Last year, to mark Human Rights Day on Dec. 10, she held a fireside chat with Isha Khan, the chief executive officer of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, which focused on the theme of gender equality as a fundamental human right.

“Having that discussion with Isha Khan on how society can collectively create an environment where women can thrive and enjoy the human rights that belong equally to them was crucial. One of my primary goals was to make this conversation as accessible as possible since the messages Isha shared in her responses needed to be heard.”

Baldner said she posted a recording of the event on Genequ’s website and across her social media platforms, and she was encouraged to see how much positive feedback she received from her peers, teachers, and community members.

Go online at genequ.net for the link to register for the event, or to learn more about the other initiatives that Genequ has set in motion.