It was once said that the Creator made woman before man and she was enamoured with one of the demi-gods and still is to this day. The Creator, frustrated with the way things turned out, made woman out of man and the rest is basically the birds and the bees and all that other stuff. Today, woman is the same as man and that’s a good thing, as we are all human.

As we look to the past to see the life of women in general in North America, we wouldn’t be here without our mothers, sisters and friends. In this nation, women have taken the forefront in breaking down barriers and sexism, abuse and other awful things that women have had to endure, and still endure today, to create a better future for all.

Sometimes, entire societies and cultures have had to change and this is especially notable in our First Nations and Inuit communities. Many women take on daunting roles and succeed at their leadership and come out as chiefs, mayors, federal and provincial ministers, governors general and this world is a better place to live in because of the efforts of these women.

Back in the day, without a woman by your side to clothe you and feed you, you were considered to be a poor quality man and shotgun weddings were a result. Many women have had to go through this process, but hey, it worked for that era. Today, the choices are much more open to women and again, as a result of these many wise choices, our lives have improved.

For the single-parent family, life is always harder to deal with, but as many grownups can attest, enduring life is the greatest teacher, especially with mom right there to back you up when times were rough. Today, life has different challenges that everyone must face and for the betterment of all, women have now come to meet those challenges with their incredible resources and capacities. It awes me to know, that at high-powered conferences, facing the media on occasion, or running a community that these ladies go home and carry out motherhood duties. I am still awed.

Back in the day, giving birth was a different experience, as one uncle of mine told me about his birth, which was in the middle of a river on a sandbar. This was after a long day of paddling and the closest place to have a baby was on the nearest land, a bare spot of sand that showed up at low tides. After the delivery, my gogum went on to paddle the rest of the day to camp. That was the way life was back then, and the toughest and kindest people were just like my granny. It was just the way it was, take it because you can’t leave it or ignore it. Whatever life threw in her path, it was just another day to live out.

Then, after the birth of children, it’s usually the mother who does the rest of the child rearing, until someone notices that there’s an extra hand around to help out with the chores. Life goes on…

I know one thing for sure, without women around; life would be a lot harder.