SUNDRE — On International Women's Day, a town councillor shared with her colleagues a personal story about a rather rude awakening that left her disillusioned but undaunted and even more determined to persevere.
In the spring of 2000, Coun. Charlene Preston — who at the time was one year away from earning a degree in horticulture — said she was given a unique opportunity to develop some work experience on a project at a university in Vietnam.
“I thought I was ready to take on the world,” said Preston during council’s regular March 8 meeting conducted by teleconference.
“I was not prepared to take on a male-dominated country. I quickly realized that this world was not as kind to women as I had thought.”
Raised in a small Alberta farm town with only a sister, Preston said her family always treated her as an equal.
“But this was not reality,” she said. “Although I had seen and witnessed and even experienced gender inequality, nothing prepared me for Vietnam.”
Throughout the first several weeks of her time there, the local staff at the university would not address her directly, instead speaking to her through either one of her male colleagues who had also come to Vietnam to work on the project.
Frustrated and annoyed, she eventually decided to join the local men in some after-hours socializing over some drinks.
“I was way taller than them and outweighed them, and so of course I could drink more than they could,” she said.
One particular evening, she was challenged to a drinking contest by one of the guys. When all was said and done, he ended up outside puking in the bushes while she held her liquor unfazed.
“It was a turning point. From that day forward, the story changed — nearly all the men on the project started talking directly to me,” she said.
“Now, I do not tell this story to gloat about my drinking abilities. But the reality is there are many challenges that women have to deal with that men have absolutely no clue about, and we often have to come up with ‘solutions’ that our male counterparts would never have to deal with.”
However, she added the Vietnamese celebration in recognition of International Women’s Day during her time there was unlike anything she had ever experienced or likely would again.
“They truly celebrate women, and respect the sacrifices that women have made,” she said.
“There were women in the street celebrating, they were dressed up in traditional garments, there were huge social gatherings, all women were given flowers, and there were parades honouring each and every woman.”
More than two decades later, Preston pointed out she is one of only two women on Sundre’s council, which including the mayor is made up of seven elected officials. She added there are only 15 women out of 63 in the province’s governing party.
“We celebrate International Women’s Day, but we still have a long ways to go. Women still have glass ceilings — we are often not seen as equals and very often vilified just for being who we are,” she said.
“The worst culprits are the men who say they are feminists and yet their actions and behaviour reflects differently, and the other group is women who bash other women.”
While there remains room for improvement, Preston expressed optimism for positive change.
“International Women's Day is a day to celebrate equality, justice, peace and advancement, and it is the expression of women in respect and love. It is a day that at some point, we will be able to express kindness and not just criticism, and my hope is that women will always be encouraged to use their strengths instead of having their weaknesses used against them," she said.
Also taking a moment to address her colleagues, Coun. Cheri Funke said that according to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, women occupy 18 per cent of mayoral positions while scantly more serve as councillors.
“The presence of women in politics has increased, but it’s still a struggle,” said Funke, adding women often face a no-win situation.
“If you have a strong personality, you’re deemed opinionated and close-minded. If you’re passionate, you’re deemed emotional and pushy. If you’re intelligent, you’re deemed as a threat,” she said.
“You are judged for everything you do. But we are resilient. We are strong. And we continue to fight.”
March 8 was the 110th International Women’s Day, with council carrying a motion to make a proclamation in recognition of the annual observation.
