![I’m [still] with Her](/sites/default/files/styles/hero_org_1x_2560/public/assets/blog/hero_image/im-still-with-her_0.jpg?itok=wxVMr858)
"To all the little girls watching...never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world."
- Hillary Clinton
Many women woke up November 9th feeling the loss of something very personal and precious: hope. This election cycle brought to the forefront many issues of sexual, emotional, and physical abuse towards women, and the outcome of last night’s results seemed to prove that the insidious notion of “lighten up, it’s just a joke” has deeper roots than we thought.
Hillary Clinton’s candidacy was always bigger than herself. Like all campaigns, it was about coming together and trying to make a difference. Look at the hashtag used as a rallying cry: #ImWithHer. It’s a phrase that shows how important solidarity is. I’m with you. You’re with me. Stronger Together.
And that message should be taken away from the election.
It isn’t that one woman lost and therefore all women lost out. It’s that more work needs to be done to combat the rhetoric put out by bigots and misogynists. It’s that this work has to be done together.
We can support each other by getting involved in mentoring programs that focus on building up the next generation of youths to shape a more positive future for all of us. We can help our sisters, mothers, friends and others escape abusive relationships and rebuild their lives through education and support.
Let's prove that we are on the right side of history. Let's make the little changes now, everywhere, all the time, so four years from now the conversation is different. Because #ImWithHer, and I’m with you, and we can be stronger together.
Learn more about YWCA mentorship programs, and get involved in the positive
To learn more about donating to the YWCA Mentorship program and other programs, please contact donations@ywcavan.org | 604 895 5850
FURTHER READING
A 12-Step Program for Responding to President-Elect Trump by Nicholas Kristof, New York Times
Don’t Agonize, Organize by Lena Dunham, Lenny
Shattered by Rebecca Traister, New York Magazine
