CFUW Stratford hosts packed panel show for International Women’s Day

Moderator Deanna Horton joined panelists Pamela Jeffrey, Halyna Padalko and Mary Hofstetter for a wide-ranging discussion which touched on mentoring, networking and the state of the world at large.

CONNOR LUCZKA, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

On March 8, International Women’s Day was celebrated across the world as it is every year – but it was especially meaningful in 2025, as Cambria Ravenhill said.

In 1975, 50 years ago, the United Nations designated the year as the International Women’s Year and began to celebrate the advocacy and action related to the women’s suffrage movement and women’s equal participation in society writ large. In the following years, the celebration became the annual day we celebrate today.

“This is the 50th anniversary of women coming together purposely to break down the barriers we faced at that time,” Ravenhill said. “Women couldn't get a credit card in their own name, they couldn't sign a mortgage, they couldn't get a car loan – some banks would not let them, allow them, to have bank accounts in their maiden name. We forget how much we've achieved over those decades, and women have had, now, a place at the political and policy-making table, which was not the case back then. So, this is a particularly special date.”

Ravenhill, president of the Stratford branch of the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW), made that statement at a breakfast event hosted by the organization in the Arden Park Hotel, which drew a huge crowd.

The theme for the morning was “breaking barriers – stories of progress,” and coinciding with that theme was a panel discussion between moderator Deanna Horton, Mary Hofstetter, chair of Sheridan College’s board of governors, Pamela Jeffrey, founder of the Women’s Executive Network, and Halyna Padalko, an expert in strategic communication, propaganda and disinformation.

In a wide-ranging conversation which touched the private and political sectors, the four spoke about the importance of mentoring, networking and the state of the world at large in particular.

Padalko, a Ukrainian native, was also the keynote speaker. During her opening address, she reminded the gathered crowd about both Ukraine and Canada, saying the day is being celebrated in a time of turmoil.

“We all sense the tension in the air,” Padalko said. “It’s not my first time living in a country with a crazy neighbour.”

Padalko’s allusion was not lost on the crowd, which laughed at her joke. However, as Padalko continued to show pictures of her home country of Ukraine, of Ukrainian women taking their children to school with rifles slung over their shoulders or firing rockets at invading Russian forces, the gravity of both Ukraine’s circumstances and Canada’s circumstances was felt, in addition to the threats Canada’s “crazy neighbour” had been repeatedly making at that point.

Padalko said it is imperative all women be committed to democracy – that it is an obligation of the highest order.

“We must keep democracy alive because only in democracy can women strive. We know why all of us are here today on the International Women's Day. Our mothers fought for us to have the same rights and opportunities as men, and now it is our turn. It is our duty to protect democracy for the next generations, and we must remain committed to support democracy and growth while fighting for justice and freedom, literally fighting for it on the front lines, in trenches and border lines.

“No one will do that for us. It is our call, and it is everyone's choice which side of history to stand on,” Padalko said, ending her address to a standing ovation.