Canadian transport minister blasted for video of male politicians walking in pink high heels

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Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra drew the ire of the internet after sharing a video of male Canadian politicians walking in high heels to raise awareness of violence against women.

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“Violence against women is still prevalent in our society. Hope in Heels is an event that spreads awareness on violence against women while encouraging men and boys to be part of the solution. We wore their signature pink heels in support to this important cause,” tweeted Alghabra, MP for Mississauga Centre.

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The accompanying video to the tweet has been viewed more than nine million times, with many deriding the post as “mocking” the cause.

“How is men trying to walk in pink high heels encouraging anyone to part of a solution to stop violence against women? This does not make me feel safe at all, quite the opposite,” noted one response.

“Now that I have your attention, violence against women comes in all forms, not just physical,” Alghabra said in a followup tweet. “Men, starting with me, need to be aware of the consequences of our actions and words and do better to create space for women around us.”

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The video and tweet also drew a response from Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, who requested Alghabra to “keep us posted on how many femicides this prevented.”

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A day after posting the original tweet, Alghabra offered further explanation.

“A credible organization that combats violence against women has been coming for years to Parliament asking male MPs to help them raise awareness about their work. Yet, a group of insecure men gets triggered when they see men wearing high heels speaks to how fragile their ego is,” he tweeted.

“Ironic that those who complain about how easily offended society is are easily offended by a simple gesture,” he added in another tweet while tagging Halton Women’s Place, which provides emergency shelter services for women and their families.

A report released last month from The Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability (CFOJA) noted that one woman or girl is killed by violence every two days in Canada and that men are the majority of those accused.

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Femicide is defined as an “intentional killing with a gender-related motivation,” per UN Women, a United Nations organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women.

According to the report, at least 850 women and girls have been killed since 2018, including 184 in 2022, the highest number the organization has recorded in the past five years.

There was a 27 per cent increase in killings of women and girls with male accused from 2019 (pre-pandemic) to 2022.

Launched in 2017, one of the goals of the CFOJA is to have femicide named and enshrined in legislation and the Criminal Code of Canada.

“We really wanted to address the issue so there would be better understanding publicly,” said Dr. Myrna Dawson, CFOJA founder, when the report was released in March.

Dawson noted that 20 countries currently use the term femicide to classify specific offences.

According to the release, Canada is also one of three countries out of 35 which has not yet expressed its international commitment to the 1994 Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence Against Women treaty.

“This is one example of how Canada lags behind other countries in its response to male violence against women and girls,” said Dawson.