Posts with the The Scotsman tag

Barris Beat

Their chance to lead

Written by Ted Barris on . Leave a comment
Plan Canada "Because I am a girl" advertisement
Plan Canada “Because I am a girl” advertisement

You’ve seen the advertisement on TV in the past few weeks. The two swaddled infants appear lying on a multi-coloured mat. The babies seem contented and comfortable as they lie there. One is cooing; the other has a partial smile. As I looked at the ad, it never occurred to me to ask what gender the infants were. But then we’re told…

“Both of them could be head of a class… could lead a nation,” the voice-over announcer said. “Yet one of them won’t even be given a chance, simply because she’s a girl.” (more…)

Barris Beat

A day is not enough

Written by Ted Barris on . Leave a comment
The one day The Scotsman newspaper changed everything… was International Women’s Day, March 8, 1995.

It happened the year we celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary. To mark the occasion, my sister, my cousin and my parents had all arranged for my wife and I to travel to the U.K. for a week. And on the morning of March 8, 1995, we walked out of our hotel on Princes Street in Edinburgh, Scotland, to buy the daily newspaper, The Scotsman. We approached the newsies hawking copies of the paper. They were all women.

“Help celebrate this important day,” the women newsies shouted, “It’s International Women’s Day.”

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