(HOST) This weekend scholars, social workers, and activists are gathering in Montreal for a three-day international conference about violence against women. Here’s commentator and Vermont Humanities Council executive director Peter Gilbert to tell you why.
(GILBERT) Shortly after 4 pm on December 6th, 1989, twenty years ago this Sunday, a young man walked into the Ecole Polytechnique at the University of Montreal with a semi-automatic rifle. It was the last day of the school semester. Entering a classroom full of engineering students giving presentations, he separated the females from the male students, and, after claiming that he was "fighting feminism," proceeded to shoot all nine women in the room, killing six. Then, for the next twenty minutes, he moved through the building, specifically targeting women, killing a total of 14, and wounding 14 others, including four men, before turning the gun on himself.
Even twenty years later, after numerous mass shootings, including Columbine and Virginia Tech; after multiple terrorist attacks; even now, just a few weeks after the murder of 13 people at Fort Hood, we still react viscerally to thoughts of the Montreal event.
That is, in fact, a good thing; it would be terrible if we had become accustomed to such evil and loss.
What are we to make of this horrific crime? Some people have viewed it as simply the act of a single, terribly troubled individual. Others point to the abuse the gunman experienced as a child, or the violence in the media. But whatever else it may be, for most people the Montreal Massacre remains a symbol of violence against women, which takes a wide variety of forms, and which happens within a social context related to women’s roles and status. In his suicide note, the Montreal shooter had written of his anger towards feminists for seeking social change that [quote] "retain the advantages of being women… while trying to grab those of men."
What’s happened in the wake of this infamous act? It led to stricter gun control laws in Canada, and changed – sped up – police tactical protocols for dealing with such emergencies, changes that have been credited with minimizing casualties in succeeding shootings.
The Canadian Government proclaimed December 6th the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women; commemorative events occur annually across Canada to remember the women killed and to continue constructive efforts to effect change.
In both K-to-12 and higher education, people are working to diminish sexist notions that some academic subjects are for males and not females. And in myriad other ways, big and small, important work goes on to promote equity, justice, and opportunity for women in North America as well as around the world. Increasingly, corporations and other organizations understand that the presence of a critical mass of women – perhaps of about 30% – positively changes the dynamic – and outcome – in meetings. There has been progress in society, but with women occupying only 14% of the chairs in Fortune 500 board rooms, at the current rate of change, it may be a long time before that 30% threshold is reached.