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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, March 4, 2016 | 4 New age dawning for every mother's daughter: Armstrong by David Lea Oakville Beaver Staff the world should be and are venturing down new paths. A shift is felt... and confirmed "About five years ago, I started feeling the Earth was shifting under the status of women. At first, I thought it was wishful thinking on my part. After all, I have been doing this for 25 years and I haven't exactly had good news stories to tell," said Armstrong. "But I did the research and found out I was right. I wanted to be the first one to get it into a book to let people know that after all the coming together, all the marches, all the petitions and all the begging women around the world have done, it is beginning to work. A new age is dawning for every mother's daughter." Armstrong said this change could be seen even amid the worst experiences, noting the terrorist group Boko Haram's April 2014 abduction of more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls. Journalist, author, human rights activist and former Oakville resident Sally Armstrong spoke at the 2016 International Women's Day Dinner Party Wednesday. | photo by Graham Paine ­ Oakville Beaver (Follow on Twitter @halton_photog or facebook.com/ HaltonPhotog) While there is still plenty of work to do, change is happening for women in places around the world where many never thought it would come. This was the main message delivered by human rights activist, journalist and awardwinning author Sally Armstrong during her keynote address at the 2016 International Women's Day Dinner Party, held at the Burlington Convention Centre, Wednesday. The event, hosted by the Women of Halton Action Movement and the Zonta Club of Oakville, attracted an audience of around 900 people and was described by organizers as the largest event of its kind in Canada to celebrate International Women's Day (March 8). As she began her speech, Armstrong noted the evening was about winning. "When the vice-president of the United States walks out on stage in front of 80 million viewers at the Academy Awards and says, `It is time we ended rape, I want you to help,' you can tell someone has been listening to what the women of Halton have been saying for a couple of decades now," she said to the applause of those present. Armstrong, whose work has seen her interview women in Afghanistan, the Congo, Kenya, Bosnia and beyond, dismissed any notions that a culture or religion sanctions violence against women or the marginalization of women. She said women around the world are challenging old ideas about what their place in Escaping Boko Haram During this abduction, some of the girls escaped. Armstrong spoke with one 14-year-old, who jumped off the back of a moving Boko Haram truck. The terrorists attempted to find her, jabbing long poles into the dense forest brush that concealed the girl. Ultimately, they gave up and drove away with their other captives. "I asked her, `Where did you get the nerve to jump off the back of a fast-moving truck?' She said, `I figured I could only die once. If I stayed on the truck, I'd die, so I jumped,'" Armstrong recalled the girl's answer. "I spoke to a lot of those girls (who escaped) and the key was they were in school, they had education, they had plans for themselves, they wanted careers, they wanted to go to university.... This was the kind of attitude these girls had." Armstrong said she found another example of change during a trip to Afghanistan last month, where she visited the Afghanistan National Institute of Music where she met the country's first female conductor. The 19-year-old conducts 35 young women in a symphony orchestra, which Armstrong said makes the most beautiful music. "Last year, when they held a concert, a suicide bomber attacked. Can you imagine? What kind of horrid, dark thinking was involved in sending a suicide bomber to attack girls for playing music? They claimed these girls were corrupting the nation," said Armstrong. "The girls' response was to hold another concert the next week. Nothing seems to stop these young people." Additional examples of how personal will is trumping existing institutions of oppression could be seen in 160 Kenyan girls between the ages of three and 17 who sued their government see World on p.10 Where children learn to think, not what to think. l r. 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