Demanding equality : one hundred years of Canadian feminism

For one hundred years women fashioned different dreams of equality, autonomy, and dignity; yet what is Canadian feminism? In Demanding Equality, Joan Sangster explores feminist thought and organizing from mid-nineteenth-century, Enlightenment-inspired writing to the multi-issue movement of the 1980s. She broadens our definition of feminism, and - recognizing its entangled political, cultural, and social dimensions - builds a picture of a heterogeneous movement often characterized by fierce internal debates. This comprehensive rear-view look at feminism in all its political guises encourages a wider public conversation about what Canadian feminism has been, is, and should be. "One hundred years of feminist activism, from the 1880s to the 1980s, presented multiple paths for women's search for equality, autonomy, and dignity. Women fashioned different dreams of freedom and social transformation, yet what is Canadian feminism? Demanding Equality illustrates feminist thought and organizing from mid-nineteenth-century, Enlightenment-inspired writing to the multi-issue movement of the 1980s, with its focus on feminism as a collective project of resistance. Instead of equating feminism solely with women's search for individual independence and equality with men, Joan Sangster argues that the pursuit of different pathways to equality often created a hybrid politics in which emancipation was intertwined with, and propelled by, struggles against related injustices such as racism, war, colonialism, economic disparity, or homophobia. She also challenges the popular "wave" theory that identifies successive surges of equality seeking, concluding that feminist activism was continuous despite changing significantly across decades. Demanding Equality presents a picture of a heterogeneous movement characterized by both alliances and fierce internal debates. This comprehensive rear-view look at feminism in all its political guises encourages a wider public conversation about what Canadian feminism has been, is, and should be."-- Provided by publisher A new history of Canadian feminism. Demanding Equality delves into the riches of Canadian feminism, beginning with nineteenth-century tracts and continuing beyond the recent intersectional turn. Challenging the popular wave theory of feminist history, Joan Sangster argues for the movements surprising continuity amid decades of social transformation. This comprehensive study promises to revitalize a wider public conversation about the diverse movement of Canadian feminism past, present, and future. List of Abbreviations Introduction 1 Spreading the Word of Women’s Emancipation 2 The Origins of Socialist and Labour Feminism 3 Women, Democracy, and Suffrage 4 Reform Feminism and Women’s Right to Work 5 Agrarian, Labour, and Socialist Feminism after the First World War 6 Feminism and the Party Question 7 Feminism, War, and Peace 8 Feminism in a Cold War Climate 9 Liberating Feminisms 10 Feminist Organizing in the 1970s and 1980s Afterword: The 1990s and Beyond Notes Index