Global Awareness Week Guide

By Lea Puechel

Now in its second year, Global Awareness Week is an event organized by the Ryerson Student Union (RSU) and Continuing Education Students’ Association (CESAR) to educate students on global issues in workshop-like teaching events. Here’s a primer on the issues at hand and where and when you can learn more.

International Women’s Day—Tuesday, Mar. 8

The week starts on International Women’s Day to celebrate feminism and the struggle for women’s rights. Ryerson’s White Ribbon Campaign has already held a public conference about ending violence against women, and the Women’s Centre at Ryerson gives a space to share experiences women face on campus.

This week, organizers are calling for a global feminist movement that includes not only Canadian women, but those living abroad since women all over the world experience different forms of discrimination.On Tuesday evening, Poet Staceyann Chin and other performers will give personal and profound accounts of their own stories.

Mind the gap! Women still earn less than men for the same work, a reality that no student wants to graduate into.

Events

Towards a Global Sisterhood: Feminism, Identity, and Stuggles for Women’s Liberation—Thomas Lounge, 12 p.m.
Celebrating Women’s Voice: A night of spoken word, dub poetry, music, and dance—SCC 115, 5:30 p.m.

Right to an Education Day—Wednesday, Mar. 9

If you’re a Ryerson student, you’re one the more privileged people in the world. Not everyone gets the chance to pursue an education at all, let alone go to university. Events on this day will explore how racism, occupation, colonization, and war in other parts of the world impede the educational development of indigenous communities and add to the ever-increasing economic inequality between countries.

Events

Education Not Occupation: Indigenous Struggles for the Right to Education—Thomas Lounge, 12 p.m.

National Bottled Water Free Day—Thursday, Mar. 10

Ryerson’s pledge to have a bottle water free campus by 2013 is taken up during the week’s events by spreading the idea that water is a human right and that water privatization is wrong.

Buying bottled water means paying big bucks for something you can get for free at home. Organizers maintain that free drinking water should be made available in every building at Ryerson and that large players in the bottled water game (like Coca Cola) need to cool down.

Event

Water is a Human Right—SCC 115, 12 p.m.

Workers’ Rights Day—Friday, Mar. 11

The Workers Action Centre will be on campus on Friday, Mar. 11 to speak about workers’ rights and how the small minority making key decisions in the work field often overlooks the interests of the workers.

If you haven’t been paid for working overtime, or were fired because you needed the day off for an exam, this group will have solutions to help you bring your employer to justice, and make sure that you’re treated fairly in the future.

Event