The Metro Vancouver YWCA has a physical building located on Beatty Street off Robson. But in Vancouver the YWCA is much more than a building, it is a movement that has provided a safe place and championed equity for women across Canada.
From their website their mandate is “working towards a just and equitable world for women, families and allies.” Among many of the initiatives undertaken by the YWCA including the Women in Distinction Awards is a new project to celebrate International Women’s Day this week.
The YWCA has installed a statue base at Canada Place as an interactive art piece to “give local women a platform to celebrate themselves, their stories, their accomplishments”.
The base has a plaque which reads “Reserved for Her. Historically there is a lack of landmarks, public sculptures and street art commemorating women. YWCA Metro Vancouver has reserved this space for those who identify as women to be honoured and celebrated”.
It is very true in much of Canadian history that the people and figures talked about are men. Viewpoint Vancouver has previously written about the fact that women just don’t make it to the statue podium. The Canadian Women’s Foundation has a list of statues and monuments to women and mention only four statues nationally. The YMCA is a bit kinder suggesting that only twelve percent of all permanent public statues commemorate women.
That absence is also in histories and in the local Vancouver newspapers that have been dominated by male voices. One notable exception is Captain Julia Henshaw who admonished the jaywalking bylaw in Vancouver and insisted crossing midblock was safer. And that was in 1936. (Data would later show she was actually right.)
The YWCA is celebrating the 21s century heroes that should be honoured but are not, including Marina Melandidis (Founder of Youth4Nature) and Nataizya Mukwavi (Founder of Black Women Connect Vancouver) and many other outstanding individuals. You can hear their stories and see their images on the podium at this link.
You can find the exact Canada Place location of the podium here ( on Google Maps). You are invited to step onto the statue base and send photos on social media using the #ReservedForHer and tag @ywcavan.
images:vancouver ywca
The lack of “public figure” women is a clear example of self-perpetuating bias in men – both those who have ignored women’s accomplishments in the public record and others who therefore still think that women haven’t done much to deserve acclaim. It’s worth repeating: know your biases.