'Most important struggle' is gender equality: Lewis

War, poverty and even the spread of disease can be traced back to gender inequality, both in Canada and abroad -- and solving the problem starts with teachers.

That was the message from Stephen Lewis, the speaker, activist and politician who addressed the Waterloo unit of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association during a professional development day at RIM Park yesterday.

Lewis's talk comes on the heels of a safe schools conference this week in Toronto where school board officials admitted teen girls increasingly see sexual violence as normal.

A recent report from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health found that as many as a third of Grade 9 girls in Southwestern Ontario have experienced sexual harassment or assault.

In some places, like Eastern Congo, rape has become a strategy of war.