Written by Ashley Oakes
Anyone who knows me well, knows I don’t wear heels. They look great but wearing them is torture for me. I spent a few years working in the corporate sector and kept a couple of pairs at my desk. When an important meeting took place, I would begrudgingly force the damned things on and totter down the hall to the board room already counting down the minutes till I could take them off again and slip back into my well worn flats.
Now picture men and boys who may have never ventured into this merciless arena of women’s wear, donning the little beauties and walking for the first time, in public, for a mile!! This is the inspiration behind the brain child of Frank Baird when he created the first Walk a Mile in Her Shoes in 2001. What started out as a small group of men daring to wobble around a park has grown to become a world-wide movement with tens of thousands of men raising millions of dollars for local rape crisis centers, domestic violence shelters and other sexualized violence education, prevention and remediation programs.
On September 23rd, 2017, Howe Sound Women’s Centre Society will hold our 9th annual Walk a Mile in Her Shoes event at O’Siyam Pavilion Park, Squamish. Registration is at 10:30am and the walk starts at 11:00am. Men throughout the Corridor are encouraged to gather pledges and bring awareness about the issue of violence against women as they prepare for the big day in which they will march a symbolic mile in high heel shoes! All proceeds support programs of Howe Sound Women’s Centre Society. And don’t worry about finding appropriate footwear…these bastions of comfort are provided for you! Event waiver, registration and pledge forms are available at www.hswc.ca/walkamile.
