Module 1: Intersections and Interlocking Oppressions

Question 1

First Wave Feminism (1870-1940): Mechanisms of Dominance

Answer 1

Religion: Rejection of missionaries
Education: Excluded from universities
Suffrage: No right to vote
Legal: Excluded from the Senate
Reproductive: Criminalized for possessing materials and pamphlets related birth control

Question 2

First Wave Feminism (1870-1940): Mechanisms of resistance

Answer 2

Religion: 1870, Hannah Norris, Women Started their own missionary in society.
Education: 1975, Grace Annie Lockhart: First women in the British Empire to obtain a bachelor’s degree. 1883, Women’s medical College in Toronto.
Suffrage: Franchises an literary clubs. Collecting petitions, staging mock parliaments and selling postcards.
Legal: The Famous Five fought to recognize women as ‘persons’ under the law. Emily Murphy, first woman to participate in the Senate.
Reproductive: Kaufman spent $25,000 mounting a defense for Palmer and resulted in the Eastview Birth Control Trial.

Question 3

First Wave Feminism (1870-1940): Identity Categories

Answer 3

Religion: White middle class women
Education: White middle class women
Suffrage: Widows, unmarried, white middle class women
Legal: White middle class women
Reproductive: Dorothy Palmer, migrant women from England, social worker at Parents’ Information Bureau

Question 4

First Wave Feminism (1870-1940): Systems of Oppression

Answer 4

Religion: Christianity, patriarchy
Education: Patriarchy, racism
Suffrage: Patriarchy, racism
Legal: Patriarchy, racism
Reproductive: Christianity, patriarchy, capitalism

Question 5

Second Wave Feminism (1940-1990): Mechanisms of Domination

Answer 5

Workforce: Educated from non-traditional fields.
Education: Sexism, violence against women, abortion rights, establishing women centers and daycares on campuses.
Private home: Domestic violence
Human rights: Gender pay gap, sexism, discrimination
Abortion: Criminalization 1968-1969, Criminal Law amendment Act, legal if approved by Therapeutic Abortion Committee.

Question 6

Second Wave Feminism (1940-1990): Mechanisms of Resistance

Answer 6

Workforce: Women’s volunteer societies. 1942, Joining the military air force, and navy. 1970, The Royal Commission on the Status of Women.
Education: 1972, The National Union of Students (NUS). 1981, The Canadian Confederation of Students.
Private home: Late 1960s to early 1970s, The Battered Women’s Shelter Movement in Canada: ‘the personal is political’, domestic violence is a social problem.
Human rights: 1977, Canadian Human Rights Act. 1980, The Charter of rights and Freedoms. 1980, Convention on the elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
Abortion: A cross-country abortion caravan from Vancouver to Ottawa. Justice Bertha Wilson supported striking down the provision.

Question 7

Second wave Feminism (1940-1990): Identity Categories

Answer 7

Workforce: Young and single women, childless married women
Education: Women, mothers
private home: White middle class women
Human rights: White middle class women, religion
Abortion: White-middle class women

Question 8

Second Wave Feminism (1940-1990): Systems of Oppression

Answer 8

Workforce: Patriarchy, capitalism, adultism
Education: Adultism, patriarchy
Private home: patriarchy, racism, capitalism
Human rights: Patriarchy, racism, religion
Abortion: Patriarchy, capitalism, racism

Question 9

Third Wave Feminism (1990-2010): Analysis of Oppression Integrating Intersectionality

Answer 9

Mechanisms of dominance: Women’s discrimination and domination of one another.
Mechanisms of resistance: New decentralized and grassroots organizing.
Identity categories: Black women, gender diverse people.
Systems of oppression: Racism, colonialism, capitalism, patriarchy.

Question 10

Fourth Wave Feminism (2010-Present): Gendered Violence

Answer 10

Mechanisms of dominance: Street and workplace harassment; campus sexual assault rape culture.
Mechanisms of resistance: Social media, technology, #MeToo Movement.
Identity categories: Women, girls, all races/ethnicities, religions, cultures, nationality, age, abilities.
Systems of oppression: Patriarchy, sexism, racism, colonialism, capitalism, neoliberalism, adultism, ageism, ableism.

Question 11

What Do Feminists Have In Common?

Answer 11

• They face multiple systems of oppression.
• They identify problems or social issues within the system.
• They create, organize and carry out mechanisms of resistance.
• They use what is available and under control to take action about their current situation.
• They are resilient.