Second Wave Feminism In Canada

Since the 19th Century, women in Canada have fought political, legal, and social battles to find their place in Canadian society. From starting out in small, local organizations, to legal battles in the Supreme Court, Canadian women have come a long way. Unfortunately, it took a long time for many people to adapt to the changing roles of women, which made women still feel unequal compared to men. It is really striking to think that at one point society questioned if women could even be considered persons, just a small sample of the many changes women had to face through the course of history. This paper will analyze these changes experienced by Canadian women in that time period and how it affected their everyday lives.

Every woman has the right to moral, legal and political choice. As we look to the past, women fought for the right to be treated the same as men and fundamentally to have the same rights as men. Prior to the turn of the century, women had little to no rights. World War I and II gave way to change, allowing women to work and eventually allowing them to vote. The feminist movement has made drastic progress since the war. Today women are seen as equal and have the right not only to vote, but to be educated. In 1977 the Canadian Human Rights Act ensured that women could no longer be discriminated based on their sex, race, religion or sexuality. The act specified that there must be “equal pay for

The 1920s were a brutal time for Canada and most countries in the world. The Great War had just ended and soldiers were coming home to no work and minimal food. While the male soldiers were gone fighting the war, females took their place in factories, manufacturing war equipment and doing regular work that normally men would do. When the surviving soldiers came back, they were furious and wanted work to make money so most of the women were kicked out and replaced by the men. Women were obviously not happy about this and fought to make a change. One of the most notable feminists and successful female suffragists in Canadian history is Emily Murphy. She fought alongside four other feminists to create equal legal recognition as males and succeeded;

Throughout this course, we learn that women’s studies originated as a concerned at the time that “women and men noticed the absence, misrepresentation, and trivialization of women [in addition to] the ways women were systematically excluded from many positions of power and authority” (Shaw, Lee 1). It has always been known that in the past, men have had more privilege than women. Women have battled for centuries against certain patterns of inadequacy that all women experience. Every culture and customs have divergent female identities, however this does not hinder the fact that many of these cultures are based on patriarchal past where men hold more rights than women. Canadian women have sought to overcome these stereotypes and have managed to gain a position of near equality. This was

Canadian workplaces today seem to be a fairly diverse place, with a blend of many religions, ethnicities, and genders present. However, although people preach affirmative action and melting pots in current times, many inequality and power issues still abound. One strikingly noticeable example is gender discrimination. Women in the workforce face many challenges like smaller wages, harassment, male privilege in hiring or promotions, and lack of support when pregnant or raising children. One half of the planet is women, and it can be assumed the same for Canada, but they still face judgment at work because they lack the authority to dispute against big corporations or even their male supervisor. It cannot be argued that

It has been a long and hard journey in Canada to attain gender equality between men and women. Today, most people are unaware of the discrimination in workplaces, schools, and everyday life. Due to the Famous Five who lead the Persons Case that stated women as official persons, and many heroic individuals who lead the Women’s Suffrage Movement, women now have more opportunities than ever before. The Canadian Labour Movement has helped improve many citizens’ careers including those of women, protecting them from discrimination, violence, and harassment at work. Saskatchewan feminism has followed a similar path to Canada concerning women’s rights, most often categorized into three influential periods of time. The gender pay gap is the difference of money that men and women make, that is a crucial example of gender inequality. Gender stereotypes have limited the ability of men and women, judging them with false ideas through the media. All of these have played a major part of women’s rights and gender equality today.

After reviewing Chapter 3 and the images provided I can not identify anyone specific but I do believe the images are from a time in history when women were fighting to have equal rights with men. The topic of women’s suffrage in Canada was brought up briefly in past history classes but was never fully explained or explored. Just the basics were touched upon such as, the fact that at one time women were denied many of, if not all, the rights men had.

The face of change for women throughout Canada; Lady Aberdeen the wife of Governor general, John Hamilton-Gordon, a equalise that believed men and women deserved equal rights as both were human, got encouraged by many life experiences that led Lady Aberdeen with an understanding that women and girls should deserve an education as it not only affected their life but also the people around them and the individuals they were married to. Her tribute towards Canada made many individuals change their way of thinking towards the act of women in a political stance.“These ladies,” Lady Aberdeen stated, “were ready to go forward if they could find a president who would be outside all party politics and creed rivalries, and who would yet be sympathetic with all the different sections of thought and work with which women of various races and creeds were connected throughout the Dominion.” Someone, they hoped, like Lady Aberdeen. “I found myself elected President of a newly-formed National Council of Women of Canada,” she said.

On March 8th, 2016, International Women 's Day, Prime Minister Trudeau announced that Canadian Women will finally be appearing, for the first time, on Canadian currency starting in 2018. Although this is a great stride, it makes you wonder about how it took so long for there to be representation of important Canadian females on our money. This kind of gender inequality is something most of us do not think about, as too many people assume we have already have ended sexism and gender related discrimination, but the fact is, we have not.

Women are flooding factory gates and demanding work. There have been several protests recently, but today seems to have involved city officials. These protests started last year, but have progressed in this year. Today April 17, 1917 women are marching down the streets to employers. These women claim that they want jobs because the men aren’t at home; fighting in the Great War.

Gender inequality has been a long part of Canada’s history with men being the dominant decision makers. Women have had to fight long hard battles and overcome numerous obstacles to prove themselves and demonstrate that they are equal to men and not inferior. Over the course of a century women have achieved suffrage and have become increasingly visible in the political and economic sectors. Despite all the achievements women have made barriers remain in effect leaving women at a social, economic and political disadvantage even in the twenty-first century. The primary obstacles in achieving gender equality are the noticeable absence of women in authoritative economic and political positions, unfair social stereotypes that are still

Throughout history, Canada’s identity has changed in many ways and there have been many historical events that have greatly shaped and impacted Canada’s history and identity. The Women’s Movement and women’s contribution in the past and throughout history has had the greatest impact on shaping Canada into what it is today. Among many identifying qualities like being multicultural, bilingual, and world leaders, Canada is also country that has changed immensely in the way of becoming a country that has learned to accept women, move towards providing them with equal opportunities and treating them equally. Through economic, social and political movements and actions, the contribution from women and the women’s movement have increased, changed and improved women’s rights and equality greatly. Women worked to create independence and equality economically through their contributions to war on the homefront in WWI resulting in greater workplace equality, socially through the actions of the Flappers in the 1920’s giving women currently, the confidence and strength that they need to speak up, and politically, through the work of the Suffragists including the Famous 5 to allow women to have the same political rights as men.

Canada is advanced in health care and education, but, women still lag behind men when it comes to equality. Feminism is about gender equality between women and men to have the same rights. Almost everyone today will experience discrimination because of their gender. Inequalities based on sex roles are a continuing issue in Canada; therefore feminism is needed in today’s society because all people should have equal rights. Men are given more opportunities when it comes to job opportunities, wage gaps also social inequalities.

The Second Wave of feminism was interrupted with the oncoming turn of the century, the 80s. In the political sphere you see the election of President Ronald Reagan who passed policy that discriminates against the middle class, minorities and women. During his presidency, it sparked the ongoing trend of anti-feminism which we still see in politics today. At the same time you see Hollywood becoming a larger more streamlined entity that narrows its focus to broader themed movies that don’t necessarily carry important messages as well as showing shallow themes. Hollywood at this point was looking to make blockbuster films that appealed to the greatest amount of audiences, and that means abandoning any sort of heavily political rhetoric.

Since its peak in 1960-1970s, feminist movement has been famous for promoting equal opportunities for both women and men. The second wave movement, especially, took special concern on elevating women's status socially and economically. However, just as any other social movement, feminist progress elicits critiques from the society who cites social problems as a result of women'r rights progression.