International Women’s Day celebrated in Lethbridge.

Wednesday marked International Women’s Day and the Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce hosted a breakfast event at the Enmax Centre to showcase powerful women in our community.

Cyndi Bester, the CEO of the Lethbridge Chamber says there were around 200 people who attended the festivities. She highlighted how important it is for strong women to get together and hear each other in a public setting.

“A lot of times I have so many opportunities to get up and talk and share my story. But I think it’s important to get that next generation out and talking and sharing because each of us and our generational highs we fit into, we need to know that you’re not alone, that you have your peers are going through a lot of the same things. So it’s so important to see that generational discussion as well.”

Abigail Shakespeare was one of the guest speakers and she said it was incredible to be able to talk in front of so many women.

“So I was asked a few weeks ago to do this, and when the chamber called me up and they said, we want to start centering younger voices and no one else embodies the qualities of International Women’s Day like you do. And I was like, what? Out of all the people you know, you’re going to choose me? I don’t even own a business anymore. What are you talking about? And I was so honored. It’s really hard to remember that our stories actually do have value to other people. And even though there’s people in this room that are way more established and have way more experiences than I do, that I was still able to hold them in a conversation today, there were still things that they could learn from me. So it meant a huge amount.”

According to Stats Canada, women have made huge strides in a number of professions including politics. As of 2021, just over 48 per cent of ministers appointed to federal cabinet positions were female. As well, women represented just over 35 per cent of people aged 15 and older in Canada who held a management position in the workplace.