This article impressed me because I really do believe that women are the stronger sex. Just look at the diversity of the roles women play nowadays. Whether they have suffered a lot from their origin country or simply motivated by the need to achieve and be confident about their ability to make their dreams comes true in Canada, women are the pillars of strength and vital participants in Canadian community. They go through a lot more than their male counterparts in terms of challenges and stressors surrounding their work in the daily living of settling in for their quest for ethnic continuity and attempts to enter the labour market. Everyday they face a multitude of personal, professional, cultural, and career challenges and from what I’ve seen firsthand, always keep motivating themselves to move nowhere else but up, even in difficult times.

Canada is a nation of immigrants. Elinor Caplan, the minister of Citizenship and Immigration personally believes that “Immigration made the last century a success for Canada. ” Immigrant women are always ready to make sacrifices for their families and to achieve their own personal goals in life. They spend more of their personal time catering to the everyday demands of their families than pursuing further education or career paths. There are many obstacles but immigrant women have strong personalities and most are able to overcome them. A few just stay separated and a few others melt down and become depressed. The ones that stick out are goal-oriented and will not mind barriers in front of them, instead keep finding ways to motivate themselves to do more in Canada than males.

Another similar article found in the hot immigrations issues folder talks about median earnings of women and men here in Canada. It showed that women earn on an average $15.12 while men only earned a dollar less. Eventually with experience, volunteer work and formal education, immigrant women have more opportunities. I choose to believe whatever unique personalities immigrant women have or how different they are based on their traditional mindsets and beliefs, they can make a successful living if only they are not daunted by the everyday challenges and defeats, but take it as an important learning factor. As a young woman myself, I believe there is no such thing as failure. Everything that happens right here in Canada, is an opportunity for learning and improving ourselves and those that surround us.

Women from I have lived in my entire life in the Middle East, have been constantly told on what to do their entire life. From their fathers to their brothers and husbands in their lives, they have been told how to look like, what to wear, how to act, what to do next. Their decisions were not counted and shared with.  Even if women are stronger than men in some aspects, such as physical pain, there is always some sort of tenderness that is proper to women’s nature. I think a woman’s warmth, kindness, and femininity are what makes them strong and powerful in the Western culture. I also believe a woman’s real strength and power comes from knowing who they really are and living their life to the fullest. Here, I know where I want to go in life, usually by trial and error. In order for me where I am today, I listened to my mother and few mentors from work and college to provide advice that are in my best interests. I was able to find creative means to apply my skills and experience from back home to here in Canada and found that I had taken more initiative and was determined to be successful here.

Recent studies from Newsnet, show that women have several positive attributes for leadership. We are more persuasive than our male counterparts. It has also been found that women tend to learn from diversity and are more persistent. Women develop an inclusive, team-building leadership style to solve problems and make decisions. Finally, women are more likely to ignore rules and take risks. Researchers say men also do exceptionally well in those areas, but women just do it a little better.  Immigrant women act more decisively. We think, plan accordingly and go about based on a combination of our skills and talents.

Once an immigrant woman is empowered to do more, she have the ability to analyze a situation and move forward in a rational way. We also tend to be more entrepreneurial because of the many open doors here in Canada. I personally have learned the value of women and our rights and I believe Canada can and should do more to protect immigrant women as they are significant contributors to the economy and our communities.