NEWS RELEASE
CANADIAN MENTAL HEALTH ASSOCIATION
*************************
The 21st Annual Chocolate Rose Campaign gets underway to commemorate International Women’s Day on Thursday, March 8. The theme for this year’s campaign is: Mind The Gap.

What does it mean to #MindTheGap? Mind The Gap is reflective of the pay rate differences between men and women. At 1:50 p.m. on Thursday, March 8, 2018 women are encouraged to step out of their work place as a demonstration of the inequality of gender-biased wage differences. Be part of the global celebration of women’s accomplishments using #MindTheGap and #IWD2018 on social media.

Once again this year, Tranquility House, Timmins and Area Women in Crisis, H.E.R. Place, Villa RenouvEllement and Centre Passerelle pour femmes du Nord de l’Ontario continue to collaborate to make this campaign successful. Through this united voice we are anticipating this campaign to have a positive and lasting impact on our communities.

The idea for the Chocolate Rose Campaign comes from the many women who marched through New York City in 1908 demanding shorter work hours, better pay, voting rights and putting an end to child labour. The slogan “Bread and Roses” was adopted to symbolize economic security and a better quality of life.

“Communities have been very supportive of this initiative and this year staff and volunteers from all the violence against women’s service providers will be delivering chocolate roses to area women in local, key strategic locations,” says Penney Andrews, acting program manager at Tranquility House. “The women handing out the chocolate roses will be easily identified by their purple scarves. Purple is the international colour associated with the International Women’s Day Campaign that happens annually in recognition of removing abuse completely. Woman abuse affects everyone and we are glad to see our local communities standing behind us in creating that awareness.”

*************************