Canadian lawmakers are facing backlash online after walking around Parliament while wearing pink high heels.
On April 20, members of Canada’s Parliament donned heels in a failed effort to bring awareness to violence against women. The gimmick was part of the “Hope in High Heels” event sponsored by Halton Women’s Place, a women’s shelter in Ontario.
“Violence against women is still prevalent in our society,” tweeted Canadian Transport Minister Omar Alghabra, along with a video of the event. “Hope in Heels is an event that spreads awareness on violence against women while encouraging men and boys to be part of the solution. We wore their signature pink heels in support to this important cause.”
Liberal MP Karina Gould also tweeted about the event and shared pictures of her male colleagues wearing the pink high heels.
“We welcomed @HaltonWomensPl to the Hill for the 4th annual Hope in High Heels on the Hill, to continue the conversation on systemic violence against women,” Gould wrote. “Educating men and boys is part of the solution, and it is all of our responsibilities to end gender based violence.”
The story received wild responses on social media, with many Twitter users poking fun at the ineffectiveness of the men’s gesture towards combating violence targeting women.
Sad. And patronizing. https://t.co/RKdeTmaAdl
— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) April 21, 2023
“Male politicians parading around in ‘signature’ pink high heels to be part of the violence against women solution. I’m so embarrassed for you this actually made my scalp tingle,” tweeted popular political commentator Bernie Spofforth, who added a clown emoji at the end of her post.
“Canadian women, do you feel safer now?” asked Canadian politician and leader of the People’s Party of Canada Maxime Bernier. “Or do you just feel that a bunch of virtue-signaling Liberal clowns are needlessly making fools of themselves?”
“Canada’s wet bag male politicians wearing heels to combat domestic violence,” wrote Red State editor at large Ben Kew. “If anything this will more likely lead to an increase in abuse cases rather than a decrease.”
“They may be male, but they are not men,” quipped U.S. Army Special Forces veteran and president of WorldStrat Corporation Jim Hanson.
