We kicked off Janauary 2018 with author and speaker the Honorable Marie Corbett and her book January, A Woman Judge’s Season of Disillusion.

She walked us through her confrontation of the limitations of the criminal justice system. It was very enlightening since Marie knows what she is talking about! She is a retired superior court trial judge whose legal career spanned thirty years. She was a superior court judge in Canada at a time when only 3% of judges were women. Not only was she an impartial arbitrator over criminal sexual assault cases, but she witnessed first hand the slights faced by women who challenge the status quo. Marie talked about scrutiny, critical parsing of words and terms, stereotypes foisted on women at trial, societal patterns, social & physical pathology, an adversarial system with rigorous cross-examination, and myths. If this sounds heavy, it was, but Marie was also able to inspire us. It all comes down to women being entitled to fully participate in life. Vote – Become Educated – Fight the Good Fight!
There was a very robust question as the audience used this opportunity to glean answers from a highly educated and successful woman who was (and is still) a ‘dedicated crusader for social justice and reform of family law’,  who sat through the dramatic tapestry of cases inside her trial room and came to TBOWIT share her life lessons with us.