March 8 marked the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day, and with it came the usual depressing statistics on the many ways men and women have yet to reach equality.
Different parts of the world reflect this inequality in various ways - it could be income disparity, barely visible political status, career limitations (especially for mothers), harassment and violence - the list goes on.
In Prince George, violence is the most glaring issue that women face in extreme disproportion to men.
Elizabeth Fry Society statistics show that in 2010, more than 4,000 women and children accessed services for individuals experiencing or threatened by violence.
More than 300 women were referred to the victims services program, and of those, 254 were victims of partner assault, or domestic violence.
More than 1,400 women and children used the city's abuse victims' transition house in 2010. And these are only the extreme cases.
Everyday incidents include two situations reported in The Citizen this past week alone - one involved two teenagers assaulted by three young men at a mall, the other involved two teenagers being flashed.
These type of incidents have become so normalized that many respond by saying "So what?" The answer to that question is the very reason the world still acknowledges International Women's Day.
Left unchecked, this type of disregard for women and girls' safety encourages predators - as seen most horrifically with the Highway of Tears.
The Highway of Tears highlights the years of neglect women have faced when it comes to violent crimes. Since 1989, nine women have disappeared or been found dead on the 750-kilometre stretch of Highway 16 from Prince George to Prince Rupert.
And another nine were added when the stretch of road expanded to encompass Merritt to Alberta with incidents dating back to 1969 - that's 42 years.
Just as it took decades before police began investigating disappearance of women from Vancouver's downtown eastside in earnest, the Highway of Tears unsolved disappearances and deaths have been left to simmer far too long.
But most of the original nine missing or murdered women were impoverished and members of First Nations, and the most recent name added to the list was 14-year-old Aielah Saric Auger, whose body was found near Prince George in February last year.
So it's poor, young and native women who are disappearing - the holy trinity of "Who cares?"
Is there any other explanation for the fact that, despite the disappearances being linked to the lack of affordable transportation between communities bordering the highway, there's still no free service?
Such a service should be the top priority for the First Nations who have suffered the loss of women along this stretch of road, not to mention for the regional and provincial governments.
But the lack of solutions only mirrors what we're all willing to do - and most importantly, not do - to help.
The answer is in everyone's hands collectively. We all clearly need to do more to save girls from falling through the cracks to be left for those who prey on the discarded.
