A spot of tea for Emily
By Chris Simon

The founding members of the new Emily Murphy Annual Commemorative Tea group posed for a photo at the Princely Pear Tea Room Saturday.

Several local women gathered to celebrate the memory and achievements of women's rights pioneer and Cookstown resident Emily Murphy Saturday.

Murphy, a prominent suffragist and reformer, spearheaded the fight to have women declared persons in Canada, specifically to become eligible for a seat in the senate. She also became the first female police magistrate in the British Empire, and helped to significantly improve the democratic life of women throughout the world.

So, in a simply modest way that Murphy probably would have enjoyed, a group of about five local women saluted her with tea and light snacks. The women discussed Murphy, and many of the other achievements of Canadian women, as part of International Women's Day celebrations, said organizer Judith Moses.

"She helped pave the way for women, whether in politics or law," she said. "She was very instrumental in sending a signal to broader society that women have their place. She's under-celebrated in the area.

"Every woman today is touched by what (Murphy) did."

Other events commemorating the accomplishments of women took place across the world. They included rallies for women's rights in Iran, discussion at the White House in Washington, D.C., a breakfast in Iraq, an art show in China and a bus tour in South Africa.

Women's Day has been celebrated since the early 1900s. The first National Women's Day was observed in the United States in 1909, with an worldwide day being proclaimed by the Socialist International organization in Copenhagen the following year. Over 100 women from 17 countries agreed on the proposal, which was intended to honour the women's rights movement and help achieve universal suffrage.

More than one million men and women attending Women's Day protests the following year, campaigning for working and voting rights, training, the ability to hold public office and end discrimination.

But Moses also says it's important to remember the history of the Canadian women's rights movement.

"It's really important to remember the people who helped to give us what we have today," she said. "Canadians need to celebrate their history more. Canadians don't promote ourselves enough."

The women plan to celebrate Murphy on Women's Day each year. They're even giving the event a name, the Emily Murphy Annual Commemorative Tea.

"It's an opportunity to stand back and think about what went before you, we quite often take advantage of what we have today, that we have the rights and freedoms to choose our own destinies as women," said Moses. "But it's only by sitting down and having a talk like this that you can really look back and see how far we've come."

With files from www.internationalwomensday. com.