We Indians consider it a day well gone by, if we make through it, without our politicians making offensive remarks against women. So imagine our surprise when one politician, the newly elected Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, proudly declared himself to be a feminist.
In an interview, co-sponsored by the Toronto Star, which aired on Monday night before the election (October 18), Trudeau was asked by journalist Francine Pelletier if he would describe himself as a feminist.
“There seems to be a lot of anger,” Pelletier asked, “not just at women, but at feminism and feminists. Would you describe yourself as a feminist?”
“Yes. Yes, I am a feminist,” said Trudeau. “I’m proud to be a feminist.” He went on to tell Pelletier that his mother raised him to be that way, and that his father, the popular two-time former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, “was a different generation, but he raised me to respect and defend everyone’s rights, and I deeply grounded my own identity in that.”
Well, big-wig politicians are not in the habit of making statements like that. So excuse us if we sound quite jubilant. The only other politician who falls in this category is US President Barack Obama who rebuked the US Congress(that’s their version of Lok Sabha) for blocking further progress on equal pay for women.
Coming back to Trudeau, he stands for every issue which a liberal party should. He has come out against Islamaphobia, reasserting tolerance as a tenet of Canadian life. He will protect and prioritise the environment. He wants to raise taxes for the rich. He wants to legalise pot. Is there a cooler PM out there?
But Trudeau’s declarations of feminism is not mere lip service or gilt paint, he has been consistent on women’s issues through out, without being ambivalent.
Diversity was an explicit goal of the Liberal party, and both “visible minority” and female candidates were elected in record numbers.
He has pledged to have gender parity in his cabinet.
The Liberals have pledged to extend parental leave to 18 months, flexibly applied. (How about moving to Canada?)
He is pro-choice as heck, saying: “It is not for any government to legislate what a woman chooses to do with her body. And that is the bottomline.” When the Conservatives gleefully used his pro-choice stance in an attack ad, he doubled down, saying: “I am perfectly comfortable with Canadians knowing that the Liberal Party is unequivocal in its defense of women’s rights.”
Smart rebuttal there. Obama himself was quite tepid in his views on abortion and only went so far to say, “we may not all agree about a woman’s right to choose.”
And when you add to all this, the fact is that he is only 43 years and sizzling hot, it makes him even more appealing.
Image Courtesy: Reuters
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