To the young women who seek to make change:

Who put their hands up, lead movements and are considering putting their names on the ballot, I want you to know that now more than ever your voices are needed. And while it may seem our politics are more divisive than ever, I still truly believe we are strongest when we work together.

When we are united in the fight for progress, great things can happen.

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When women become a critical mass at the table—whether it’s in the boardroom or in cabinet or in corner offices—that’s when the real change happens.

I know because I’ve seen it first-hand. The women in my government have pushed for stronger measures to tackle gender-based violence and build more childcare spaces. We pushed for the poverty reduction strategy and housing, and for a higher minimum wage and youth pharmacare. We bring different experiences and priorities, and it makes for better public policy.

Though it is easy to be cynical about politics right now, I’m actually more encouraged than ever—and that’s in large part thanks to the young leaders I meet in Ontario, like the young women who asked me to include consent in Ontario’s new health and physical education curriculum. Or the girl in grade three who a few weeks ago asked me what my government is doing to solve homelessness. Or the students campaigning for gun control in Florida. These young women and girls, and the many like them I’ve met across Ontario, show me you are never too young to get engaged, never too young to make a difference.

We are in the middle of a global moment, where women’s voices around the world are united in a chorus that demands change.

“As much as things have changed since I was your age, too much remains the same”

They are ringing out and saying “Time’s Up” and “Me Too.” We are already witnessing big changes in industries as different as politics and filmmaking. But just because we are seeing change does not mean we can pull back.

In fact, now more than ever, we must “Press On for Progress”—which is so fittingly this year’s theme for International Women’s Day.

In my life I have seen a lot of change. My first political act was an unwitting one. I was 14 and I wanted to wear pants to school. Today, nearly 50 years later, young women are still fighting dress codes, though for very different reasons.

We also can’t belittle the progress that has been made. My grandmother didn’t get the vote until she was 30. Two generations later, or one human lifetime, I became Ontario’s first female premier.

But there are still too few women running for office across Canada, and I want to see more women in city halls and parliaments in every corner of this country. I want to tell you to run.

Not because it will be easy. I have been called many names, dismissed as “just a mom”; I’ve watched a competent federal minister dismissed as a “Barbie”; and I have seen the toll a tough campaign can have on young families.

I ask you to run because it is necessary. Because we need another slate of brave women willing to tackle stereotypes and the campaign trail in tandem.

I ask you to run because as much as things have changed since I was your age, too much remains the same.

So press on this International Women’s Day.

I hope to see you on the hustings.

—Premier Kathleen Wynne

Illustration by Madison van Rijn

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