Author: Sarah Ruddle
Sarah Ruddle is Director of Marketing and Communications at the Canadian Women’s Foundation. Sarah is passionate about working for social change and equal opportunity, and is excited by the rising hum of a new movement for women and girls. When she’s not kissing her toddler to bits, you’ll find her delighting in sprouted lentils and walla walla onions at Whole Foods, talking herself into and out of the gym, or straining to read ebooks on her smartphone.
Remembering Lives Cut Short: 30th Anniversary of Montreal Massacre
This December 6th, 2019, we mark the 30th anniversary of the Montreal Massacre. We often see the names and pictures of the women who were brutally murdered that day, but we wanted to learn and share more about who each of the women were, what they loved, and what their dreams were.
6 Ways to Raise Confident Girls: Tips from Canadian Women’s Foundation Parents
This is the fourth post in our Confidence Stories series in partnership with Always®. Confidence Stories features stories, tips and ideas for supporting girls and building confidence.
At the Canadian Women’s Foundation, we want every girl to believe in herself and realize she matters. Every day we work to better understand the challenges that girls face and invest in the programs that help girls move into adolescence with confidence.
My work at the Canadian Women’s Foundation gives me a unique advantage as the parent of a 5-year-old girl: I have the ultimate guide to raising girls right at my fingertips! I know that the evidence-based approach to investing in girls’ programs WORKS. I’ve seen the impacts in the research, in the Foundation’s results, and in my daughter.
What’s Possible in a World That’s Girl-Powered?
It’s not news that girls are bombarded with thousands of negative messages every day, everywhere they look.
Sometimes it seems like we’re trying to mop up a flood with a cotton swab, but more and more, people are speaking out about disempowering messages and limiting stereotypes aimed at girls. As consumers we’re questioning why girls are marketed to differently than boys, challenging magazines that portray girls’ as no more than the “sum of their fashion, makeup and hair”, and calling out the media industry on its dismal representation of girls.
Necole’s Story
Earlier this month the Canadian Women's Foundation held our Annual Breakfast in Calgary with keynote speaker Geena Davis. The event raised $620,000 to help low-income women, like Necole, on their journey out of poverty.
Momentum is a word that often comes up at the Canadian Women’s Foundation. Nearly every day we learn of another woman who is living proof that if you build on strengths and provide access to the right tools, a woman basically becomes an unstoppable force of positive momentum.