“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.” - Helen Keller

Today is Election Day in Canada and as our friends and loved ones there go to the polls, I hope they will succeed in electing a new government that can help restore the many special and admirable things that nation has done and represented in our world. Canada is a wonderful place that can be even more wonderful, and the Canadians I know are great people. I’d also like to say that I admire and appreciate my Canadian friends who have been volunteering their time for candidates who represent their values!

Thinking about elections and the important issues they ask us to consider, I find myself reflecting on a significant social, and political, challenge that especially matters to me. Equality, in general, is central to my own values, and equality for women is particularly important to me. As long as approximately half of the people on our planet do not have an equal opportunity for safety, well being, economic advancement, self-actualization, and respect, we will be preserving injustice,and we will not achieve what we are capable of together.

The data on the continuing under representation of women in positions of power is one evidence of this problem. Whether we are looking at the demographics of our governments, of key organizations like the United Nations, or of those holding positions of power in business, the evidence is clear. Less than 15% of the top five leadership positions at companies in the S&P 500 are held by women, and there are only 24 female CEOs at these firms. Among the Fortune 500, only 5.2% of CEOs are women and only 5.4% for the Fortune 1000.

Less than 22% of the permanent representatives and observers to the United Nations General Assembly are women. Even though last January marked a record number of women in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, the 84 female representatives make up only 19% of the House and the 20 female senators make up only 20% of the Senate. While there are approximately equal percentages of men and women in the U.S., and women account for about half of the U.S. labor force (47% in November 2014), they are badly underrepresented in positions with the greatest power and influence. It’s also interesting to note that research from 2011 showed that Fortune 500 companies with high representation of women board members significantly outperformed those with no female directors.

As of 2014, women working full time in the U.S. typically earned 79 percent of what men were paid. Women also make up only 36% of those working in computing and less than 25% of other STEM fields. The field I have spent my career working in has a long way to go before we can say women are offered similar opportunities to men. It seems as though equal pay for equal work would be a basic goal and one that we should achieve soon. While the gap here in California is somewhat less, with women earning 84% of what men are paid, there has been little progress toward narrowing this gap during the past ten years. It looks like real action, through salary audits and equity adjustments, and legislation like the Paycheck Fairness Act, will be necessary.

There are so many other ways that inequality, and inequity, based on gender is evident in our societies. Beyond representation in business and government, we must ensure not only equal access to opportunity in education and work, and equal pay, but also equal access to health care and to childcare for families, an equal level of respect, and an equal assurance of freedom from violence. There is so much yet to do.

I find myself thinking about having been raised in what was to a great extent a family of women. While Dad certainly had an important part in my childhood, he was gone working and traveling a great deal of the time and the biggest influences on me as a boy were my mother and my older sister, Nancy. Later, my younger sister, Lynne, would influence my thinking on these issues as I watched her preparing for and seeking opportunities in different places, including Australia and Finland.

I was raised by my mother and sisters to treat girls and women as entirely equal to boys and men. They also taught me to speak truth to power and to work for what I believe in. My mother, pictured above when she was in high school, worked in various aspects of education and was a successful artist later in life. Nancy shared what she was learning at school and raised my awareness about political issues including civil rights. Both Nancy and Lynne have shown me in many ways what it means to be strong and to live your values. My grandmothers influenced me, too. Both were widowed when I was young and remained strong, independent, women all their lives. One help support local elections and the other had a career as a nurse and continued as a volunteer nurse at well-baby clinics well into her retirement. I am proud to be their grandson, brother, and son.

The men in my life have also taught me. I learned about volunteering from my Dad and that had a lot to do with my coming to believe strongly that we can change the world if we are willing to work together. One grandfather died when I was four. I remember him as a tall, gentle, man. I was lucky to spend more time with my other grandfather until I was nearly eleven and he showed me how truly gentle a man could be. Although my grandfathers, father, and I have all benefited in some ways from a society that gave advantages to men, I believe my children and grandchildren will benefit more when we succeed in creating a society that provides equal opportunities to all.

I had some growing up to do as a boy, and young man, and there are a few things I did that I regret and have learned from. While I grew up learning to treat girls and women with respect, the few disrespectful things I did when I was young still trouble me today and this sharpens my commitment to working for equal rights for women. While none of these actions were particularly hurtful they reflected a culture of inequality, and don’t live up to my values. I want to work with my children, and our peers, to help create a world where equality is expected, and for them, and my grandchildren, to never have regrets like mine; having grown up in a world where it is much less likely they would ever consider doing things like those I regret.

My thoughts today have ranged from my values, to some current facts with regard to inequality for women, and my personal experience and how that has influenced my values, views, and actions. We become ourselves in relationship to others and I’m grateful to have been raised by and with the strong women in my family. I am so grateful for my partner, Sue, who is a genuinely wonderful person, and for the women I am honored to call friends today. In their strength, gentleness, intelligence, wisdom, courage, compassion, and love, they challenge me every day to be the best man I can be. This includes continuing to work for greater equality.

There is still so much to do. I want to be proud to be who I am as a man. As long as women are treated as less than, there will be something I am not proud of. As a man of my times, I'm sure I cannot know what this inequality truly feels like, and means, to the women in my life. As an idealist, I'm sure my perspectives could be better informed by pragmatism. I will keep my mind open and hope to keep learning as I share the work of making a more equal world. Each woman's success makes every woman stronger... And every person. I hope that all of us will choose to work for the changes we need to achieve. May we rededicate ourselves to creating a society, and a world, where every person is treated equally, valued, and respected in their own right.