feminist movements Canada

Question 1

What was the situation for women before 1945 in canada?

Answer 1

lacked voting rights, equal employment opportunities, control over their own reproductive systems, and property when married.

Question 2

When did women in canada earn the right to vote

Answer 2

1914-18; women gained the right to vote in most provinces and in federal elections.

Question 3

When were women in canada considered as “persons” under the law

Answer 3

1929; Judicial Committee of the Privy Council determined that women were “persons” under the law and therefore entitled to sit in the Canadian Senate, only few did.

Question 4

What was education and work like for women in Canada before 1940?

Answer 4

Before 1940 women worked in low-paid jobs. Better educated women could be nurses or teachers. Female students in universities were increasing but only majors such as household science, library studies and nursing.

Question 5

Who was Agnes Macphail?

Answer 5

Agnes Macphail, elected to House of Commons 1921-40, then Ontario Legislature 1943-5,48-51. She was responsible for the first equal pay legislation in Canada.

Question 6

What was the effect of post-war suburbanization on women?

What is post-war suburbanization?

Answer 6

made upper/middle-class homemakers feel unfulfilled and less connected with the outside world → refuge in tranquillisers and alcohol. Women lacked control over their personal circumstances: getting out of unhappy marriages, abortions were still illegal.

Post- war suburbanization: growth of residential communities outside of cities

Question 7

When did women gain greater equality in canada?

Answer 7

women gained greater equality after 1945, as the government responded to movements and many feminists joined organisations.

Question 8

When was the Committee for the Equality of Women established and what did it accomplish?

Answer 8

In 1966. It threatened a protest march on the capital and pressure from Judy LaMarsh persuaded Prime Minister Lester Pearson to set up the Royal Commission of the Status of Women in 1967.

Question 9

When and what was the royal commission of the status of women and the charter?

What was the government response composed of

Answer 9

1967, a government response

centralised and catalyses great many complaints from all over Canada
Recommended reforms in education, employment, family, law, childcare, abortion laws, and that women have unlimited access to contraceptive devices and to graduate and to professional schools.

Question 10

When and what was the NAC- National Action Committee on the Status of Women

Answer 10

1972. Largest feminist group including over 500 member organisations, such as the Canadian Abortion Rights Action league and the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF).

Question 11

What did the NAC promise?

Answer 11

Ensured that the commission’s recommendations stayed on the agenda
access to abortion
better welfare provision, better day care
equal pay for work
tougher laws relating to sexual assault, sexual harassment, wife

Question 12

Was the NAC successful?

Answer 12

Even with NAC’s effort, there was still a considerable gap between what was recommended and achieved in many areas, as shown with the Charter in 1981.

Question 13

When was The Constitution Act

Answer 13

The Constitution Act: 1981

Question 14

What was The Constitution Act and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Answer 14

The Canadian Constitution Act incorporates a Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
contained the explicit right to reproductive freedom and to equal representation on the Supreme Court

Question 15

Was the Constitution Act successful?

Answer 15

Even when incorporated the Charter provision fell short of the demands of women’s groups, especially as it gave the provinces the right to opt out on women’s rights.

Question 16

What were two of the charters?

Answer 16

1985; Charter provisions on gender equality came into force.
1989; Feminists Lawyers, in LEAF, worked to change the fact that few women were initiating cases and that court decisions favored men.

Question 17

How successful was the royal commission’s recommendation in promoting equal pay.

Answer 17

While the 1970 royal Commission’s recommendation prompted equal pay, problems with the “glass ceiling” and pay disparity continued. Women’s full time earnings were 64 per cent that of men in 1982. Women found it hard to get childcare and suffered from the “double day”.

Question 18

When was he royal commission’s recommendation

Answer 18

1970

Question 19

What is the glass ceiling

Answer 19

Glass ceiling is an invisible barrier that stopped women from gaining top jobs

Question 20

What emerged with the royal commission

Answer 20

The women’s liberation movement. A militant branch of feminism → sought women’s control over their bodies and easier divorce.

Question 21

When was divorce made easier and how?

Answer 21

1969; divorce was made easier, with the widely available birth control pill, giving women more control. However, access to abortions varied across Canada.

Question 22

What significant court ruling took place in 1988? And what was the aftermath?

Answer 22

1988; Supreme Court ruled that 1969 law, that required abortions to be approved by a three-doctor panel, violated Charter guarantees for equal rights. The ruling made abortions more accessible but there was still opposition. 1990; House of Commons tried to decriminalize abortions, but the bill was rejected by the Senate.

Question 23

What was political equality like in canada?
An example?

Answer 23

Female MP’s were greatly outnumbered by male MP, who were helpful in supporting legislation that were helpful to women.

1982, MP Margaret Mitchell spoke to expose male violence against women and children in the House of Commons. Her speech about wife battering elicited laugher and rude comment from many MPs.

Question 24

Conclusion

Answer 24

Inequality in pay and employment, under-representation in parliament and uncertain access to abortion suggested that women in Canada had not gained full equality by 2000.