March 8, 2026 marks the 115th celebration of International Women’s Day (IWD). It’s a day to honour women’s achievements across the globe and to push for progress on the work still unfinished.
IWD holds special meaning for nurses. With women making up 95% of our profession, it’s an opportunity to honour the leaders whose actions have shaped who we are today.
In 1965, New Brunswick nurses secured the right to collective bargaining: a groundbreaking victory at a time when many believed “nurse” and “union” didn’t belong in the same sentence. Their vision and courage opened the door for every nurse who followed. We honour them by celebrating their achievements, recommitting ourselves to carrying that legacy forward, and showing the same fearlessness in our own work.
Their legacy also reminds us that the fight for equity is far from over. Nurses continue to experience systemic inequity – sometimes overt, sometimes subtle – reminding us that the push for equal treatment is far from over.
Nurses deal in facts. While some may insist that inequity between male‑ and female‑dominated professions have all but disappeared, the facts tell a different story. IWD is not only a time to honour the women who brought us this far; it is also a moment to shine a light on the disparities that persist and to call for the progress still urgently needed.
Fact: Pilots, long‑haul truck drivers, train operators, and nuclear power engineers—all male‑dominated professions—are all bound by legislation that limit their consecutive hours of work in the interest of public safety.
Fact: New Brunswick nurses can be required to work up to 16 – 24 hours, and longer when emergencies arise. Shifts beyond 16 hours continue to be common across the province, despite the evidence of the high risks associated with working for that long.
Fact: A commercial plane in Canada cannot take off without at least two pilots in the cockpit.
The length of the flight? Not a factor – except for longer flights, which require more pilots.
The number of passengers aboard? Not a factor.
Even airlines, with strong financial incentives to maximize flights and passengers, cannot break the rule.
These types of rules are logical for any profession where safety is critical. They should be logical priorities for a sector that claims to respect and value its professionals.
Fact: a single RN in a nursing home is routinely responsible for the health and safety of 30 residents at a time, most of whom need high levels of support and care. During a night shift, she can be responsible for 100 residents. The standard of care that she is required to fulfill doesn’t change at any point, even the 16th hour of her shift (and beyond).
Fact: Since 2006, to enter any part of the New Brunswick Legislature, visitors are required to go through a metal detector and submit their belongings to an inspection for security reasons. Weapons and explosives are confiscated in this process.
Fact: To enter any hospital in New Brunswick, you simply walk in. Nothing prevents anyone from stepping through the doors with a knife or a firearm, even in the wake of the stabbing at the Halifax Infirmary, or the incident in Saskatoon where a patient brought a sawed-off shotgun to the ER of St. Paul’s Hospital.
These facts alone don’t tell the whole story. But they do reveal a consistent pattern in New Brunswick and across Canada: male‑dominated sectors have historically benefitted from structures built around male entitlement and protection. Female‑dominated sectors have not been afforded the same entrenched support.
IWD is a chance to confront this problem and move toward real equity. For New Brunswick nurses, that means setting safe limits on working hours, legislating nurse‑patient ratios, and enforcing stronger measures to prevent and address workplace violence.
This IWD, let us honour not only women’s achievements but also the urgency of the work ahead. Equity and equality are not slogans; they are standards. This year, let’s commit to celebrating, recognizing, and protecting women as they deserve, and to closing the gap once and for all.
Paula Doucet
President, New Brunswick Nurses Union
