Ziyana Kotadia
Delegate to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, Young Diplomats of Canada
gender justice, menstrual equity, feminist leadership, youth voices gender-based violence, gender-based violence prevention and response, sexual violence, ethics of intimacy, anti-violence, violence prevention
Media
Student leaders issue national action plan against sexual violence on campus
Western provides $800K in funding for 'Free the Dot' program
Sophie Grégoire Trudeau and Ziyana Kotadia in Conversation: Gender Equality on International Women’s Day
Instagram LiveTelevision
Western University students to walk out amid sexual assault investigations
iHeart Radio, September 14, 2021Radio/Podcast
Canadian Women's FoundationRadio/Podcast
URL: https://canadianwomen.org/blog/ending-sexual-violence-on-campus/
Yours in SolidarityRadio/Podcast
URL: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2yY12bAg6P5XZYil90yKcr?si=d5gI_LRURiq88f0GlrgbQg&nd=1
How to ensure women leaders succeed
Toronto Star, March 13, 2023Online
Written by Ziyana Kotadia. "As we unravel institutionalized sexism, it’s important to remember that representation alone is not enough: to ensure women leaders succeed in their roles without undue trauma, the work of dismantling barriers for women to access leadership must be supplemented with broader structural changes. Transcending glass ceilings shouldn’t have to leave us wounded."
Universities need consent awareness week in Ontario
Toronto Star, September 9, 2022Online
Written by Ziyana Kotadia. "Education — particularly consent awareness — is key to preventing sexual violence on post-secondary campuses. Incoming students have been arriving on campuses for the first time. I distinctly remember my first day at Western University — a flurry of excitement and nervousness as I left home for the first time, struck by the unfamiliarity of my new environment. I felt small beneath the shadows cast by grand Eurocentric architecture, and alive with the energy that hummed throughout campus."
Western needs to follow through on promises to address campus sexual violence
The Western Gazette, October 12, 2022Online
Written by Ziyana Kotadia. "With the backing of thousands of community members atop University College Hill, we sent a reverberating charge of electric teal energy across the nation. Our tidal march down campus pathways that sweltering Friday began a national conversation on safety and equity across post-secondary campuses."
We need an intersectional International Women’s Day
The Western Gazette, March 8, 2022Online
Written by Ziyana Kotadia. "Growing up, the word “feminist” felt foreign to wrap my tongue around. Claiming feminism as a movement I could be part of felt almost fraudulent — it never seemed like mainstream feminist movements were designed to include me or represent my interests as a Muslim, queer woman of colour. "
Student leaders issue national action plan against sexual violence on campus
Global News, August 30, 2022Online
URL: https://globalnews.ca/news/9095062/post-secondary-action-plan-sexual-violence/
Kotadia highlighted the importance of “addressing the intersections of other forms of systemic oppression.”
“I think what’s important here is to make sure we’re taking up a lens that implicates the structures, and the social norms that produce gender-based violence (such as) ableism, sexism, racism, which create and maintain this culture where inequality and violence are normalized,” she said.
Des leaders étudiants universitaires et collégiaux unis contre la violence sexuelle
CBC News, August 30, 2022Online
URL: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1908846/plan-action-lutte-violences-sexuelles-campus
Nous avons besoin que les établissements postsecondaires et les gouvernements mettent en œuvre ces appels à l'action dès maintenant pour lutter contre l'épidémie de violence sexuelle sur les campus, indique Ziyana Kotadia.
Western University to invest $800,000 in free menstrual products for students
Global News, May 11, 2022Online
URL: https://globalnews.ca/news/8827338/western-university-free-menstrual-products/
“We are beyond thrilled that our advocacy has had an impact and that Western has recognized the importance of providing free menstrual products to the student community,” says Ziyana Kotadia, USC vice-president university affairs. “Ensuring that menstrual products are free and accessible to students who need them will reduce financial and social barriers to education that menstruators experience and build a culture where we can all feel empowered to move through spaces on campus with a sense of belonging.”
Western provides $800K in funding for 'Free the Dot' program
CTV London, May 10, 2022Online
URL: https://london.ctvnews.ca/western-provides-800k-in-funding-for-free-the-dot-program-1.5896569
“Ensuring that menstrual products are free and accessible to students who need them will reduce financial and social barriers to education that menstruators experience and build a culture where we can all feel empowered to move through spaces on campus with a sense of belonging,” said Ziyana Kotadia, the VP of university affairs at USC.
Ontario universities plow ahead with in-person exams amid COVID surge
Toronto Star, April 11, 2022Online
Ziyana Kotadia, vice president of university affairs for Western’s University Students’ Council, said student concerns have been raised to the university, especially as many have contracted the illness in recent weeks. “We have been hearing from students in a variety of disciplines about their concerns with exams being held in-person given the effects the current wave of COVID-19 is having on our student body,” Kotadia said.
Western University students council declares campus sexual violence 'crisis'
London Free Press, March 4, 2022Online
“We are using the language that is reflective of students’ experience on campus, ” said Ziyana Kotadia, vice-president of university affairs for the university students’ council (USC) at Western. “The words that we use matter, which is why we are calling this a crisis. When we use the word crisis we reflect the lived pain and experiences students have had to navigate."
Western takes steps to enhance safety on campus
Western News, March 3, 2022Online
URL: https://news.westernu.ca/2022/03/western-takes-steps-to-enhance-safety-on-campus/
“Ultimately, there needs to be a holistic solution” to gender-based and sexual violence, Ziyana Kotadia, vice president, university affairs, with the University Students’ Council, said recently. That includes not just built environment on campus but proactive education, policy, procedures and prevention, Kotadia said. “Safety and belonging on campus are deeply tied to many factors, including amenities and physical spaces. They add to the cultural narratives that say, ‘everyone is welcome, and everyone will have safe access,’” said Kotadia.
Acceptance letters should set tone for safe campus at Western: committee
London Free Press, February 8, 2022Online
"Ziyana Kotadia, a vice-president with the University Students’ Council, said adding information about Western’s values and where it stands on gender-based and sexual violence to admission letters will help set the tone when first-year students arrive in September."
Here are 4 ways Western University plans to combat gender-based and sexual violence on campus
CBC News, February 8, 2022Online
"Students have been passionate and vocal over the course of the school year about their ideas and really open with their stories and experiences," said Ziyana Kotadia. She is a fourth year student with the Gender-Based and Sexual Violence (GSBV) Action Committee. "I would say that it's vital that the task force, as we build out our long term recommendations, continues to centre and listen to these voices."
Community, cross-campus collaboration drives anti-violence work
Western News, February 22, 2022Online
URL: https://news.westernu.ca/2022/02/community-campus-collaboration-drives-anti-violence/
Kotadia, who noted the USC has been doing a lot of anti-GBSV work with students throughout the year, added, “It was powerful to see so many students and community members stand in solidarity with survivors and see how much the university community cares about making safety a priority.”
Western University walkout advocates against gender-based violence on campus
CTV London, December 6, 2021Online
Ziyana Kotadia, the vice president of university affairs for Western's University Students' Council spoke before the walk. “My own relationship with rape culture and experiences with sexual and gender-based violence are deeply personal as they are for many of us today," she said.
Ontario bill that allows profs to be fired for sex assault needs to do more for victims, critics say
The Toronto Star, November 23, 2022Online
While welcoming the legislation, “ultimately, the really powerful potential of this bill is challenged by its loopholes and gaps that could serve to create harm for survivors under the guise of being survivor-centric legislation,” said Ziyana Kotadia, chair of the Safe Campus Coalition.
Breaking the barriers to women’s leadership: The power of a youth-driven approach to equitable workplaces
The Philanthropist, December 19, 2023Online
“Gender justice is really not a luxury; it is an increasingly vital project,” Ziyana Kotadia says. “Programs like Girls Belong Here are reshaping dominant narratives surrounding who is capable of leadership and nurturing the capacity of girls, non-binary youth, and young women to step into these roles.”
University of Western Ontario students call for change following allegations of sexual violence on campus
The Globe and Mail, September 15, 2021Online
"Students at the University of Western Ontario are calling for systemic change to address the threat of sexual violence on campus after allegations that young women were drugged and sexually assaulted in residence last week. Ziyana Kotadia, vice-president of the Western University Students’ Council, said responding to individual wrongdoing is not enough. The university must recognize that it needs a framework to address education, policy and prevention, she said."
‘Frustrated and angry’: Students demand better protection as Western University grapples with allegations of sexual violence
Toronto Star, September 14, 2021Online
“Students are feeling frustrated and angry,” said fourth-year student Ziyana Kotadia. “Many of our students don’t feel safe, in residence or on campus. It’s definitely been a difficult few days for our students.”
Menstrual equity means it's time to bleed the stigma, not our wallets
Ottawa Citizen, August 26, 2023Online
Written by Ziyana Kotadia and Lindsay Glassco. "We need equitable access to menstrual products: this is a call to action for every level of government. In a society where our systems remain steeped in sexism, menstrual equity isn’t revolutionary – it’s the low-hanging fruit."
The living legacy of misogyny at Cambridge
Varsity, October 4, 2023Online
URL: https://www.varsity.co.uk/comment/26061
Written by Ziyana Kotadia. "It is vital that we understand ongoing sexual violence at Cambridge not as an aberration… Instead, it is a contemporary demonstration that the system is operating exactly as it was always intended to – to keep women out."
#MeToo 5 years later: What's changed and what hasn't
CBC News, October 31, 2022Online
URL: https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/me-too-sexual-assault-harvey-weinstein-1.6633811
"The impact of the movement continues to reverberate across Canadian campuses as well. Western University student Ziyana Kotadia has long advocated for more support from the school administration, especially after allegations of sexual assault on the London, Ont., campus surfaced in 2021."
Sexual violence on campus is a ‘national epidemic.’ Here’s how student leaders want it addressed
Toronto Star, August 29, 2022Online
“We know that the fall is a particularly precarious time for students given that we’re at higher risk for sexual assault in the first eight weeks of the academic year,” said Ziyana Kotadia, a Western student and contributor to the national action plan released Monday.
Poetry, Prayer, and Politics: An Autoethnographic Exploration of Womanhood in the Canadian Ugandan Khoja Ismaili Diaspora
by Ziyana Kotadia
Published by Liberated Arts: A Journal for Undergraduate Research
May 6, 2022
Abstract: This article takes up an autoethnographic approach to exploring how women in the diasporic Canadian Ugandan Khoja Ismaili community navigate intersecting gendered, ethnic, and religious dynamics. Canadian Ugandan Khoja Ismaili women negotiate these tensions from their positions as racialized and gendered subjects across different geographical locations as members of a ‘twice-displaced’ community. Forces of structural racism that act upon this community as well as patriarchal and cis-heteronormative power relations that function within the community inform how Canadian Khoja Ismaili women navigate their subjectivity. My positionality as a queer Canadian Khoja Ismaili woman and experiences leveraging poetry as a resistance technology provide me with insight into these dynamics.
Trauma Unspoken: Canadian Queer Women Politicians’ Experiences of Violence
by Ziyana Kotadia
Published by Global Undergraduate Awards
November 13, 2023
Abstract: At the intersection of misogyny and heteronormativity, queer women in Canada face significant systemic barriers in pursuing political leadership, including experiences of harassment and violence. In transgressing gendered leadership norms in the high-stakes and high-visibility terrain of electoral politics, queer women are subject to disproportionate surveillance and discipline under the regulatory power of the heterosexual matrix. In taking up a recent quantitative study by the LGBTQ Victory Institute as well as media coverage of Kathleen Wynne’s leadership as the first openly lesbian and LGBTQ-identifying premier in Canada, this paper argues that in order to meaningfully support queer women to enter the field of electoral politics in Canada, we must move beyond encouraging representation and instead consider how violence against queer women in politics enforces systemic exclusion. This paper offers that understanding the trauma experienced by queer women in politics – both as candidates and elected leaders – is vital for illuminating the structural powers that perpetuate this violence and dismantling the systems that reproduce this harm.
Biography
Ziyana Kotadia is a feminist advocate, writer, and researcher. She is a graduate student in Multi-Disciplinary Gender Studies at the University of Cambridge and holds a Bachelor of Arts Honours Specialization in Global Gender Studies from Western University. Kotadia has served in several leadership roles, including as the inaugural Chair of the Safe Campus Coalition, Vice-President University Affairs of Western University’s Students' Council, and President of the Huron University College Students’ Council. Kotadia has given interviews about her work in gender justice to various national Canadian media outlets including the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, CBC, CTV News, and Global News, and has engaged with Canadian thought leaders such as Sophie Grégoire Trudeau to advance gender equity work. She is currently representing youth as an official Canadian delegate at the upcoming United Nations’ 68th session on the Commission on the Status of Women with Young Diplomats of Canada, and is a youth advisor to Senator McPhedran at the Senate of Canada via the Canadian Council of Young Feminists. Ziyana has published a variety of works including op-eds, academic articles, book chapters, and poems.
Recognition/Reconnaissance
Alberta Top 30 Under 30 | Professional
The Top 30 Under 30 Award is an annual campaign by the Alberta Council for Global Cooperation. The award features 30 outstanding young people, nominated by their community and selected by a committee of peers, for their commendable work in making the world a more just, fair, and sustainable place for all.
Women Empowerment Awards: Rising Star National Award Finalist | Professional
The Rising Star Award recognizes young people aged 14-24 whose examples serve to inspire our next generation through entrepreneurship, advocacy, community involvement or global change.
The Women Empowerment Awards celebrates the achievements of women leaders and entrepreneurs, and I am so honoured to join the ranks of the women who have been recognized through these awards.