I was willing to concede that the current lyrics of our national anthem should go back to their original form.
Margaret Atwood and other esteemed Canadian women are pushing for the lyric change on the basis of sexism. The original line, written by Robert Stanley in 1908, went, “thou dost in us command”. It was changed in 1913 to, “in all thy sons command”. The women would like the lyrics to say, or sing, “in all of us command”.
That makes sense to me. It’s a restoration not an alteration. Although there was no documented reason for the 1913 revision it’s believed it was because of the war, to honour the many Canadian soldiers, at that time men, who were fighting. Although I’m not personally offended or annoyed by the “sons” lyric it does seem kind of exclusionary.
However, now Maggie – may I call her Maggie? – has gone further. She wants Canadian currency to reflect more women. Right now, the only woman on Canadian money is the Queen. If you put a gun to my head right now, and please don’t, I couldn’t tell you who is on what bill. I have no idea until a new bill is issued and someone in Ottawa writes a story about it. And then I promptly forget. While I care about how women are represented in our country, I don’t much care for having to make every single thing even-steven and counting whether we have as many depictions on currency as men do. I haven’t counted but I’m willing to bet that there have been more accomplishments by men that affect our daily lives than there have been by women. Well, you might say, that’s because of patriarchy and oppression. It once was, to be sure.
I’d like to see more women managers in my industry. It’s ridiculous that there are so few. I’d like more women in politics. I’d like to see women on television who aren’t all size 2 and 25 years of age. I’d like more respect for women overall, in general, in society, apart from how they look. If you haven’t seen it, please watch Dustin Hoffman’s amazing revelationbelow about what it felt like to be transformed into Tootsie and how disappointed he was that he couldn’t be made pretty. It was a life-changing moment. He realized all of the wonderful women he dismissed in his life because they didn’t fit an ideal look. It’s a beautiful anecdote. That’s what’s important, not putting something in your wallet that you’ll hardly notice. But that’s the big stuff and it’s awfully hard to know where to start to try to change it.
Does a woman, who respects herself, has confidence in herself and believes in herself, thus by extension her presence garners respect by those around her, really care?