For Women's History Month, the Archives and Special Collections celebrates the history of women and work through an exploration of our collections.
Today in Canada, women are better protected by labour laws and though many inequalities still exist, it is possible to observe a growing diversity and equity for women over the last 20+ years. However, these new considerations should not overshadow the fact that the history of women's work is not linear. A more inclusive consideration of women in today's labour market does not mean that women have only recently entered the workforce; as this exhibit will demonstrate, women have always worked!
Since the 1960s, feminists have questioned the place of women in traditional historical narratives, revealing the marginalization, and even the total erasure, of women’s contributions to the workforce. This re-consideration of "official" history written by and dedicated to men means integrating women’s life experiences and considering their contributions to a variety of professions. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to gather scattered works in history, literature, and art history, to revisit archives, and to read between the lines and interpret historical silences [Perrot, 1998].
Left: Group of women seated at meeting table [during the mayor's Task Force on the Status of Women], Canadian Women's Movement Archives (CWMA) collection 10-001-S3-I502
This digital exhibit offers you the opportunity to discover archival documents, manuscripts, and rare books dating from the 16th to the 21st century. These materials collectively witness the involvement of women in various occupations: printer, apothecary, midwife, chemist, mathematician, engineer, lawyer, carpenter, and more. Contextualized documents highlight the path of several women, some of whom were pioneers in their field of activity.
The exhibit is not exhaustive on the topic of work both at large and in the archives. It is also important to note that due to a lack of representation of BIPOC women in the current ARCS collections, it does little to capture their perspectives. The ARCS team welcomes your interest, thoughts and suggestions as we work to develop our archival collections to better represent the experiences of a wider range of Canadian women.
The Montreal Health Press–les Presses de la Santé de Montréal–was a feminist, non-profit collective that published affordable print booklets, in French and English, on sexuality and sexual health, for over 30 years, Montreal Health Press fonds, 10-093. See also the digital exhibit, The Montreal Health Press' First Birth Control Handbooks.
A group of women, presumed to be members of the Montreal Health Press collective, seated around a table. Photograph by Judith Crawley, [1983-1990]. Montreal Health Press fonds, 10-093-S6-F27-I1
WOMEN IN HEALTHCARE
In the 1960s, a women's health movement emerged in the West; the feminist movement collectively raised awareness of women's oppression in health care, particularly due to medical practices that were not sensitive to their physical and mental integrity. These feminists wanted women's health to be considered from women’s experiential point of view, in addition to the perspective of scientific knowledge resulting from the progress of medicine in the 20th century. However, medical concern for women's health did not begin with the feminist movement. Women have always taken care of their health and have been involved in caring for the sick and the elderly.
Throughout history, the practice of midwifery has been an essential part of medicine, despite being undervalued and often relegated to the domestic sphere due to traditional notions of gender and hierarchy. Midwifery is frequently oversimplified as a sphere in which women with no formal training help other women during childbirth, despite midwifery being “[…] the oldest, most traditional, and culturally widespread health care activity” (Connor 1994, 103). The devaluation of this “traditional” women’s work does not acknowledge the complexity of childbirth and the medical knowledge required to assist women during labour.
In Western Europe texts written by midwives, though rare, do exist and provide important accounts from a woman’s perspective. Louise Bourgeois (1563-1636) was a midwife for the birth of six children by the Queen of France, Marie de Médici. In 1626, Bourgeois published her observations on midwifery work, based on her experiences with the Queen, providing insight into midwifery practices in seventeenth-century Europe. Bourgeois’ first volume was published in an obstetrical and gynecological manual, in 1609, and her Recueil des secrets, a book on medical recipes, was published in 1635. During this period, medical texts on childbirth were written primarily by men and the field of publishing did not welcome women (Lingo 2017). Bourgeois faced numerous challenges, and “[…] as an “other” – that is, female – voice, she had to defend her right to publish” (Lingo 2017, 3).
Right: Frontispiece with engraved portrait of Bourgeois from "Observations de Lovyse Bourgeois dite Boursier, sage-femme de la royne : l'abregé du contenu se verra au troisieme fueillet, & à la fin du livre," à Rouen : chez la veufe Thomas Daré, ruë de Iuifs, prés de Palais, 1626, RG 93 .B7 1626
In Ontario, during the nineteenth century, tensions existed between male doctors and female midwives, and midwifery was not yet considered a legal profession (Connor 1994). Many women had to organize and lobby to legitimize midwifery within the health care system (Dodd and Gorham 1994). In the 1970s midwifery and the natural childbirth movement gained popularity. Established in 1983, the Midwifery Task Force of Ontario (MFT-O) was a community-based lobby group that promoted the legislation of midwifery in Ontario. The MTF-O gained support from women and their families seeking an alternative to the medical model of childbirth and maternity care. The Association of Ontario Midwives (AOM) and MTF-O joined forces to advocate for midwifery as a legal profession. This collaboration resulted in Bill 56, the Midwifery Act, passed on December 31, 1993, making Ontario the first province in Canada to recognize, regulate, and fund midwifery as part of the health care system.
"Midwifery Hotline. Having a baby? Create a Healthy Beginning," October 13, 197? - Midwifery Task Force of Ontario fonds, 10-011-S1-F8-I1
In addition to midwifery, women have a long tradition of practicing medicine and pharmacy. Unsurprisingly, due to women's inferior legal and economic status, it is difficult to find formal recognition of their work as apothecaries and healers (Fissel). But across Europe, wives and daughters would have been instrumental to family apothecary businesses, and some women, particularly widows, carved reputations for their work as individuals. In later centuries, apothecary (and then pharmacist) work was an option for women who had been denied entry into medical schools (Rayner-Canham, 1-2).
Because only trace evidence of women's daily work survives, this 17th century handwritten Dutch apothecary book is incredibly rare and special. Its opening lines, translated, read: "Medicine book of various medicines and remedies that I have collected together with great effort and love in order to help people even more." There are several different handwritings, indicating that more than one individual took part in its creation (likely the members of a family), but at least one author is named: Margarite van Wassenaer. Completed around 1652-1660 (with some additions made at later dates), the recipes provide a remarkable window into at least one woman's contribution to medicine and pharmacology.
Left: First page of Medecynboeck van diversche medecynen... [South Holland, c.1652], R 128.7 .W38 1660
With the advent of industrialization in the nineteenth century, apothecaries evolved into the pharmacies we know today. They were no longer spaces where minerals and herbs were mixed by hand to cure ailments. Industrialization spurned the development of pharmaceutical companies which shifted medicine away from made-for-measure of apothecary shops. The profession’s standardization posed a barrier to a field of work once accessible to women.
Like pharmacy, many other healthcare fields evolving at this time were male dominated. The health care professions that women were allowed to occupy, such as midwifery and nursing, were belittled. Lack of women in the medical field in Canada, particularly Indigenous women and women of colour, has had major consequences for the efficacy of healthcare services. Advocacy has become an important part of women’s work in healthcare.
Angered by the poor care provided by doctors in the mid-twentieth century, women formed collectives and organizations across the country. They aimed to empower women to take control of their health through self-advocacy, information-sharing, and activism. [see records in the Susan Moger fonds - 10-035, The Canadian Women's Health Network fonds - 10-051, Montreal Health Press - 10-093, and many more]. Today, women continue to seek an end to the oppressive and negligent healthcare practices that fail to respect the physical and mental integrity of women.
Scrapbook collage of women in engineering newspaper clippings from Claudette Mackay-Lassonde fonds, 10-184-S3-F22
WOMEN IN STEM
Throughout history, women have contributed to enriching the fields of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), but their presence and accomplishments have often been ignored or overlooked.
From Maria Gaetana Agnesi (1718-1799), the first woman to write a mathematics handbook, to Émilie Marquise du Châtelet (1706-1749), a natural philosopher, physicist and mathematician, our rare books collection includes some of the innumerable women who have contributed to scientific progress. Among the most recognized is Marie Curie (1867-1934), the physicist and chemist who won two Nobel Prizes. Her work during World War I in radiology was summarized in her text, "La radiologie et la guerre,” a signed copy of which is included in our collection. Curie vastly improved care provided to soldiers when she advocated for the use of X-ray machines to identify broken bones and locate bullets and shrapnel before surgery.
While STEM fields are still male-dominated, the presence of women in STEM has increased dramatically in the past 20 years. Women bring a diversity of approaches to the work undertaken in these sectors. A recent example is Jennier Doudna, who worked with collaborators to create a CRISPR gene-editing tool that has paved the way for the creation of vaccines to combat COVID-19.
More women were able to enter STEM fields in Canada due to the commitment of many women—often pioneers in their fields—to advance women’s careers.
In a 1981 Globe and Mail interview, chemical and nuclear engineer Dr. Claudette MacKay-Lassonde described successful engineers as “Creative problem-solvers with a scientific bent and down-to-earth practicality.” In turn, Dr. MacKay-Lassonde applied these skills to rise to the top of her field and to represent engineering as a viable career option for young women who would face numerous barriers in entering STEM fields. Dr. MacKay-Lassonde was one of only eight women graduates of École Polytechnique’s Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering program (1971) among a class of some 300 men. She earned her Master of Science in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Utah and was appointed to executive positions with Ontario Hydro, Northern Telecom, and Xerox. She was first female president of the Association of Professional Engineers Ontario (APEO) (1986-1987) as well as first female vice president of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) (1987).
Right: "Portrait of Claudette MacKay-Lassonde," (1991) Claudette MacKay-Lassonde fonds, 10-184-S4-F14-I1
Likely used for MacKay-Lassonde's work as Ontario Hydro Load Forecasting Manager, predicting consumer demands and energy supply.
"Notes of Load Forecasts Department,” (1984) Claudette MacKay-Lassonde fonds, 10-184-S1-F9
From the time of Dr. MacKay-Lassonde’s interview in 1981, when women made up only 0.3% of Canadian engineering professionals, women engineers had risen to 10% in 1987 in Canada. Women pioneers in STEM cite the importance of networking, meeting and sharing experiences to overcome barriers in male-dominated professions. In an Engineering Times interview in 1882, Dr. MacKay-Lassonde explained that “When you’re the first woman do something there’s quite a bit of stress on you. As a woman you’re more visible. Everybody watches you to see whether you’re going to be good or not” (April 19, 1982).
Dr. MacKay-Lassonde consistently sought to provide women with platforms for overcoming workplace discrimination. She helped found Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) in 1977, organizing the First Canadian Convention of Women Engineers in 1981 and setting the groundwork for annual national conferences, which continue today. In 1989, she founded the Canadian Engineering Memorial Foundation (CEMF), which continues to provide scholarship opportunities for promising students in honour of the women victims of the Ecole Polytechnique Massacre. She was also one of the main promoters of the national chair for women in science and engineering, established in 1989, and first held by Monique Frize.
Left: “Ontario Hydro workers” [198-] Claudette MacKay-Lassonde fonds, 10-184-S3-F21-I1
Claudette MacKay-Lassonde provided women with platforms to overcome discrimination, founding the Canadian Engineering Memorial Foundation (CEMF) in 1989 to provide scholarship opportunities for promising students and to honour the women victims of the Ecole Polytechnique Massacre of 1989. She helped found Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) in 1977, organizing the First Canadian Convention of Women Engineers in 1981 and setting the groundwork for annual national conferences for women engineers, which continue today.
A role model and pioneer in her field of biomedical engineering, Monique Frize has similarly advocated for women in STEM throughout her career. Monique Frize’s career as a biomedical engineer, like that of Dr. MacKay-Lassonde's, is a testament to women’s excellence in fields that defy normative gender roles. Frize became the University of Ottawa’s first female engineering student, graduating in 1966 with a Bachelor of Applied Science in electrical engineering. To apply her skills to humane work, Dr. Frize earned her master's in philosophy in Electrical Engineering at the Imperial College of Science and Technology in London before earning her doctorate from Erasmus Universiteit in Rotterdam; she has since accepted several honorary doctorates.
Right: “Monique Frize with engineering poster," [1989-1996] Monique Frize fonds, 10-123-S5-SS4-SSS2-F30
From 1971, Monique Frize worked as a clinical engineer at Notre-Dame Hospital in Montreal before becoming Director of Regional Clinical Engineering Service for South-Eastern New Brunswick. She was appointed to the research faculty in the Institute of Biomedical Engineering from 1990-1997 and worked as an affiliated scientist for the Dr. Everett Chalmers Hospital. Dr. Frize became a tenured professor at Carleton University in 1997 and was appointed NSCERC/Nortel Joint Chair for Women in Science and Engineering in Ontario from 1997-2000. Dr. Frize’s engineering innovations include the development of software that predicts complications in premature babies. She also perfected a technique for detecting arthritis, using infrared cameras. Dr Frize was inducted into the Order of Canada in 1993 and in 2002 was awarded the Governor General's Jubilee Medal. Much of her work involves promoting engineering as a viable career for young women.
"International Women's Day. 1985 Calendar" 1985 [copyright Jaren McLeod], Women in Trades fonds, 10-076-S4-F10
WOMEN IN TRADES
Despite recent progress, gender stereotypes remain entrenched in the work of trades in the West – here defined as manual, practical, or mechanical activities requiring the acquisition of expertise, such as the building trades (masonry, carpentry, etc.).
From the Middle Ages to the industrial era, few primary sources explicitly mention the involvement of women in these sectors. Trade occupations often appear inaccessible to women not only because of their arduous nature, but also because they do not correspond to perceived femininity or to the social roles usually assigned women. We then wonder—in the context of the silence of the sources—about the real or symbolic absence of women in the trades. Recent historical and multidisciplinary studies are gradually shedding light on different periods, regions, and types of activities that demonstrate women's work in the trades is more complex than the gendered representations that populate history.
Trade work in Europe was regulated for centuries through guilds (organizations of tradespeople and skilled workers), and apprenticeships were necessary for admittance (later, unions began to replace guild memberships). While formal apprenticeships and union memberships were not always closed to women, up to the 19th century, most women routinely became involved in trades through their work in family businesses [Broomhall, 2001; Score, 2014]. Work in European print and book shops involved several different trades: writing, copying, typesetting, engraving, bookbinding, and more. Such shops were the business of whole families— including wives, sisters and daughters—who would have simultaneously been responsible for household tasks.
Left: "Sisters In The Building Trades - Stickers" [1999-] Valerie Overend Fonds, 10-132-S17-SS6-I3
Yolanda Bonhomme Kerver (ca.1490-1557), Martina Plantin (1550-1616), Elizabeth Bee Flesher (ca.1678) and Anne-Geneviève Hénault Coignard (d.1705) was brought up in their fathers’ print and bookshops; they married and mothered printers, then inherited printing businesses when widowed. In 1522, Bonhomme-Kerver joined the Parisian printer’s guild when she took over husband’s successful print shop; she went on to specialize in illustrated Books of Hours and was the first woman to print an edition of the Bible in 1526 [Galligan, 2018]. Likewise, in 1610, Plantin was made head of what had been her father’s, and then husband's, publishing house in Antwerp, running it until her death in 1616 [Museum Plantin-Moretus]. Flesher ran her husband’s family’s printing firm in London between 1672 and 1688; her catalogue primarily included lawbooks, in addition to works like Ovid’s Metamorphosis and Shakespeare’s King Lear [Davis & Bilde, 2021]. We know less about Coignard, though she seems to have worked alongside her son after the death of her husband, even after he had reached the legal age of majority and been accepted into the guild [Bibale].
There were numerous widows of the time, like Coignard, who commemorated their work by styling themselves "the widow of" and using their husband’s names to print. It was notable, then, that these women achieved some independence (including economic) and recognition in widowhood. The business that Plantin took over had once belonged to her father and he had passed it to his sons-in-law, not to his many educated and competent daughters. Only a few women would be successful in challenging this status-quo. For centuries, it was principally men who maintained control over the circulation of information and content. It was not until the 19th century Industrial Revolution, when printing became faster and cheaper, and women were legally excluded from press unions, that a larger number of women were able to operate their own businesses, sharing their knowledge and ideas [Tradeswomen Magazine, 1998].
Right: Printed in Paris by the widow of Jean-Baptiste Coignard, printer & bookseller, and Jean Baptiste Coignard, son, printer & bookseller, [on] St Jacques Street, under [the sign of] the golden bible. PA 6278 .A3 D83 1691
The Women’s Press, founded in 1971 by a sub-group of the Toronto Women's Liberation Movement, was established due to the group's dissatisfaction with the mainstream publishing community and its rejection of the work, "Women Unite!"—the first compilation of Canadian contemporary feminist writing. The Women’s Press was mandated to make feminist ideas more widely accessible, and it has played an integral role in the proliferation of high-quality writing in the fields of gender, sexuality, and women’s studies, within Canada [The Women's Press fonds - 10-012].
"Janice Bell, Printer, Calendar" 1988 [copyright Jaren McLeod] Women in Trades fonds, 10-076-S4-F10
The mid-19th century Industrial Revolution brought more women in other trades, notably due to the expansion of the labour market. Social disapproval of women's involvement in trades diminished with increased demand for goods, and women workers were represented on building sites in larger numbers. However, it was the 20th century World Wars that led to the most successful challenged gender stereotypes associated with trades work. While Canadian men fought overseas, women entered sectors of work previously deemed unsuitable to women's physical or mental skills. Some worked in skilled trades and in manufacturing to help produce the heavy machinery needed for war. Others took jobs in the electrical field, or worked as welders, riveters, and mechanics, repairing and assembling engines and other devices needed in war time. Although they were discharged from these fields when the troops returned, a whole generation of women realized that they had the skills, strength, and ability to thrive in occupations that were previously reserved for men.
Women now enter the trades by choice rather than for reasons of national necessity, but they continue to face social barriers. Although the number of women working in the skilled trades has increased over the past 30 years, they remain underrepresented. In the 1980s, professional associations such as Women in Trades in Toronto were established in various Canadian communities to break the isolation experienced by women working in non-traditional occupations. These organizations acted in both educational and political capacities to strengthen the links between tradeswomen, unions and employers, and to convince policy-makers and trade unionists of women’s ability to perform hard labour.
Valerie Overend, one of the few women to earn a Red Seal in carpentry and woodworking in the late 1980s, was familiar with the lack of women on construction sites, in her early years. Understanding the barriers women may face, Valerie became involved in promoting the trades to girls; she supported the development of programs relevant to their needs. Due to the work of pioneers such as Valerie Overend, many professional associations and colleges now offer training programs specifically targeted to women.
Left: Valerie Overend [Copyrights David Weir]. Valerie Overend Fonds, 10-132
The poster advertising activities organized for International Women's Day depicts an artwork of a quilt design with nine squares, each showing various symbols related to either the women's movement or a variety of occupations with five women holding hands in center with rainbow colours.
"Every Woman Makes a Difference," Canadian Women's Movement Archives (CWMA) collection, 10-001-S5-I1094
Women in the Arts
Linda Nochlin's 1971 essay, “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” argues that the real issue is not that there is a lack of great women artists, or that they are unknown, invisible, and fewer in number than men. Rather, it is because of a multitude of social, political and economic inequalities that women’s works have not been as well remembered as their male counterparts [Nochlin 1971, 2015]. Simultaneously, representations of women in art and other media are most often the products of conventions, social norms, and men’s imaginations, instead of a direct window into the lived realities of women.
Examining women’s contributions to art is therefore an imperative step in re-centering women’s experiences in the historical narrative. This means challenging definitions of art itself.
Indeed, women's contributions to art are often seen as trivial, uneducated, or undeserving of consideration or praise. Art associated with the domestic realm (quilting, embroidery, sewing, pottery, baking...) has remained undervalued compared to other mediums (painting, sculpture...), and this hierarchy has posed great challenges for many women artists. Some feminists in the 1960s and 70s turned to craft, folk and decorative art to express the female experience. These mediums, alongside many others like painting, music and theatre, are avenues for exploration and expression.
Right: "The Painted Ladies Theatre Company" [197-]-[200-], Canadian Women's Movement Archives Collection, 10-001-S5-I553
Photography, for example, became a means of critiquing social structures and a tool for women’s self-inquiry. The work of photographer Judith Crawley (1945-present) offers an intimate look into the daily lives of women and their communities [Judith Crawley fonds - 10-139]. In the mid 1980s, her exhibition "Giving Birth is just the Beginning: Women Speak About Mothering" brought together a series of black and white photographs she had collected over the previous decade, alongside excerpts from interviews with the subjects: together, they look at motherhood within changing social and political contexts.
Left: Arlene Steiger and twins in kitchen, photograph taken by Judith Lermer Crawley. "Giving Birth is Just the Beginning -- Prints" 1980-1985. Judith Lermer Crawley fonds, 10-139-S1-SS4-F16
As writers, women have also long contributed their voices to literature and scholarship. There is a growing recognition, for example, of the role of women in the creation of the modern English novel and the impact of women writing with other women in mind on literature as a whole [Williams, 2010]. Historically, many women published with their own names, others wrote anonymously, or, like these three women in our rare books’ collection, under a pseudonym: Georges de Scudéry (Madeleine de Scudéry, 1607-1701), George Sand (Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, 1804-1876), and Currer Bell (Charlotte Brontë, 1816-1855). The use of pseudonyms was not uncommon for both men and women, as re-fashioning was part of the larger literary landscape. But for some women, by using a man’s name, they were more easily able to circumvent certain social prejudices and prescriptions of their gender, both on the title page and in the content of their narratives [Jacobus, 2012].
Notably, these women were all not without privilege and depended on their status as white, educated women from upper or merchant classes to overcome structural inequalities. Illiteracy has been one of the greatest barriers to women, as education was tightly controlled and often at the mercy of patriarchal whims. As education for women became more accessibly, so too did writings by and for women.
In contemporary contexts, women have used art to oppose varying and intersecting prejudices based on race, class, gender, disability, and sexuality. For example, Second Wave feminist publications attempted to incorporate diversity on their editorial boards or within their published content. From its inception, the women’s arts' press, Fireweed (Toronto, 1978-2002), intended to amplify women's diverse experiences and voices; but it was not until the mid- to late-1980s that the organization opened its publication to discussions of race, class, and sexuality, after examining their deficiencies [Fireweed fonds - 10-047]
Right: Some of the many periodicals found in the Women's Archives Periodicals Collection at ARCS.
A speaker at the annual NAWL conference, held in 1987 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. copyright unknown. National Association of Women and the Law fonds 10-036-S8-F6-I1.
Women in Law & Politics
At the end of the 19th century, Canadian women were barred from the legal profession. Clara Brett Martin became the first lawyer in Canada in 1897 after a lengthy battle with the Law Society of Upper Canada. They had argued that only “persons” could become lawyers, and women were not considered “persons” as per the Law Society’s statutes. It was not until legislation was finally passed in 1892 that women were allowed to enter the field . The percentage of women practising as lawyers in Canada has steadily increase. and as of 2019, 45% of lawyers in Canada identified as women [Federation of Law Societies of Canada – 2019 Statistics Report]. However, women continue to be underrepresented in the higher ranks – as associates and partners; this is most notable for Indigenous women and women of colour.
Many women in the law have worked tirelessly to improve the condition for women, including fighting against systems that kept women out of the workplace, and to represent the interests of women through education, advocacy, and research – paving the way for legal reform.
This has also been the case for women working in politics, many of whom were also lawyers by trade. Throughout the 20th century only a handful of women were elected members of provincial and federal parliaments and it was not until 1929 that women were considered “persons” under the British North America Act (Constitution Act) and were allowed to sit in the Senate. This ruling meant that women could advocate for greater rights and opportunities in both the Senate and House of Commons, and also that women could no longer be denied rights based on narrow interpretations of the law. Although they were able to run for office, the under-representation of women in Canadian politics persists despite efforts to address inequity in government.
ARCS holds the records of several prominent women lawyers and politicians who have represented the interests of Canadian women in the courts and legislatures, including the Honourable Nancy Ruth, CM, LLD - feminist, social activist, feminist philanthropist and Canadian Senator. Nancy Ruth was a leading advocate for the incorporation of Canada’s constitutional equality rights into Canadian public policy and institutions. She co-founded and served as director and officer of organizations devoted to achieving full civil, legal, economic, political, and cultural rights for women and girls in all their diversity, including the Charter of Rights Coalition and the Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF). As a Senator, she successfully advocated for the addition of sex, age, and disability to Canada’s Criminal Code provisions on hate propaganda; she improved gender-based analysis for all federal policies and programs. Nancy Ruth also increased access to medically assisted dying and promoted the 2018 restoration of a gender-neutral English national anthem.
Left: Nancy Ruth with Prime Minister Stephen Harper after a discussion regarding the National anthem. "Gender-neutral wording of "Oh Canada!" September 2002, Nancy Ruth fonds, 10-112-S4-F3
Throughout her law studies and professional practice, Shirley E. Greenberg worked for women’s legal equality through advocacy, philanthropy, and education. In the early 1970s, Greenberg was inspired by second-wave feminism to pursue a law degree with the University of Ottawa. She attended law school as a mature, married student and mother of three.
From March 14-16, 1974, Greenberg attended the founding conference of the National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL). Working with the University of Ottawa’s NAWL chapter, Greenberg helped administer the organization’s 1975 summer project, delivering programs that raised awareness of the impact of legal inequities on women’s lives. She also conducted research and wrote extensively about legal topics affecting women, such as child custody, family law, pensions, and unemployment insurance.
Right: A brief on sexual assault offences prepared by members of the Association of Women and the Law, University of Ottawa Chapter. Shirley Greenberg Fonds, 10-185-S1-F10
The National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL) is a Canadian non-profit feminist organization that has worked to improve the legal status of women in Canada through law reform since 1974. Through its educational work, NAWL has played a vital role in raising public awareness about legal issues affecting women. NAWL has also played a leading role in the following milestones towards women's equality: Sections 15 and 28 in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms; the amendments to the sexual assault laws; positive changes to family law and to the divorce act; rape shield legislation; and criminal harassment legislation, among many others.
Women like Shirley Greenberg and Nancy Ruth, as well as organizations like the National Association of Women and the Law have made significant contributions to improve the status of women in Canada through law reform, including labour laws, pay equity and discrimination in the workforce.
"Immigrant Women Into Electronics [graduation and classes]" [1985-1991], Working Women Community Centre (WWCC) fonds, 10-029-S2-F45-I41
Women's Organizations
While entry into many professions has and still depends on social class, marital status, race, childcare demands, and the support of parents and peers, women’s organizations have created collective action for change, and have fought to promote the interests of women, to encourage equal status of women’s work, and to provide training and education, among many other things.
Among our collections are the records of the Business and Professional Women's Clubs of Ottawa, whose member clubs held the same objectives: to encourage equal status for women in economic, civil, and political life; to promote the interests of business and professional women; to encourage education and occupational training for girls and women; and to promote cooperation between professional and businesswomen since the 1930s.
Left: A pamphlet describing the purposes and projects of the Canadian Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs, Business and Professional Women's Club of Ottawa fonds 10-028-S1-SS2-F1
ARCS also holds the records of the Working Women Community Centre (WWCC) which was created in June 1974 in Toronto’s West End to help newcomer women with pre-employment and employment counselling, as well as to provide language and skill training programs. WWCC worked to overcome structural barriers and racial prejudices faced by immigrant women newly entering Canada's workforce. Both as women and as non-white women, newcomers were pigeonholed into unskilled and/or under paid work and further streamlined into stereotypical gender work that revolved around home care and childcare. Several grassroots organizations like WWCC addressed newcomer women's needs as they faced structural inequalities in Canada's immigration system limiting their career options. From 1985-1989, WWCC partnered with Humber College to offer the Electronics Assembler Program [Immigrant Women Into Electronics], providing immigrant women with skills for entry level electronics positions. WWCC was also responsible for the creation of Modista Unidas, a dressmakers' co-operative, owned and operated by its workers. WWCC and its partners also facilitated the Baker/Patisserie pre-apprenticeship training program and carpentry training.
Right: The front cover of the Working Women Community Centre Annual Report 1983-1984, Working Women Community Centre (WWCC) fonds, 10-029-S2-F3
The Toronto Wages for Housework Committee began its operations around 1973.
Explanatory pamphlet created for the May Day Rally 1975, Toronto Wages for Housework Committee fonds, 10-008-S5-F2
Unpaid Labour
While much of this exhibit focuses on women working in traditionally male-dominated fields, we must not lose sight of the fact that women have always been involved in so-called domestic work, often in addition to activities performed outside the home. Domestic work includes unpaid tasks related to housekeeping, childcare and personal services to adults. Recognition of the importance of these tasks for society, including economic compensation, is relatively recent.
This part of the exhibit highlights women’s advocacy for the recognition of unpaid work in Ontario, Canada. In 1975, Judith Ramirez co-founded the Toronto Sub-Committee of the International Wages for Housework Campaign, a grassroots global network that sought to win remuneration for care work performed by women inside and outside the home. Wages for Housework was a socialist feminist organization which argued that “in the capitalist wage society, the patriarchy [is] embodied in the free housework assigned to women as a group” and that “women were not paid for all the work they did, even as they formed the backbone of the reproduction of societies” (Toupin 2018). While most feminist groups believed that liberation could be accomplished through women’s equal participation in the labour force, socialist feminists contended that participating in the workforce simply doubled their workload, as most of the responsibility for family and home care still fell on women.
According to scholar-activist Louise Toupin, this view represents the advent of “neo-feminism,” which recognized that women were economically dependent on men, not because women did not work, but because women’s domestic labour was unpaid, devalued, and invisible. Neo-feminists connected these observations to women’s low wages in the labour market, and claimed that traditionally “feminine” work, such as nursing, teaching, cooking, and cleaning, was not considered worthy of a decent salary because it was an extension of work women already did for free. In the words of a Toronto Wages for Housework (TWH) pamphlet, “We are always cheap labour outside the home, because we are slave labour in the home.”
Left: Cover of a booklet -- "May Day Rally 1975: speeches, pamphlets" 1975, Toronto Wages for Housework Committee fonds, 10-008-S5-F2
Mothers Are Women was a national, Ottawa-based feminist organization established in September 1984 by Maureen Kellerman [10-013 Mothers Are Women fonds]
"Every Mother is a Working Mother Promo Material" [1985-1995?], Mothers are Women fonds, 10-013-S5-F11
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the demand for wages for housework brought together an unlikely coalition of women’s groups, including housewives; migrant domestic workers; immigrant, racialized, and lesbian mothers; sex workers; waitresses; and single mothers on welfare. This is because wages for housework addressed the concerns of marginalized women who were excluded from mainstream feminism; for example, the organization Lesbians Due Wages recognized injustice against lesbian mothers who were expected to serve and depend on a man or else lose custody of their children. Likewise, housewives and activists like Judith Ramirez fought for mothers on welfare to be paid as much as foster mothers; they also fought for the protection of migrant domestic workers under Canadian labour laws and for recognition of sex work as work.
Domestic work is now acknowledged as essential to the well-being of the individual and society, and it has gained a certain economic recognition. However, with the generalization of the welfare state, the sphere of women's work in society has expanded from domestic work to social work (Multitudes 2020). The gendered division of labour, especially in occupations involving care activities (personal care, housework, etc.), persists in the labour market. Women working in care professions—and often at the intersection of several forms of discrimination and inequality—remain invisible, underpaid, and unrecognized.
Right: Leaflet from "Prostitution: articles, correspondence, newspaper clippings" 1975-1978, Toronto Wages for Housework Committee fonds, 10-008-S6-F10
Conclusion
Official historiography has often overlooked the diversity and richness of activities undertaken by women. Yet hard-working, brilliant and talented women have always existed. This exhibit has sought to provide examples of some of their accomplishments and examined the ways in which they have thwarted the often-stereotypical view of women's work. However, many women's experiences and contributions will remain unknowable or hard to discover without expanding how we read the historical record. The challenge is therefore substantial: to re-examine existing sources (often learning to read between the lines!), to rediscover and interpret new sources, and to encourage the collection of women’s archives.
As we celebrate Women's History Month, now more than ever, we, as archivists, hope to contribute to the historical memory by working with communities to preserve the records of all women’s voices. We aim to work with a diversity of women to capture their unique experiences, challenges, and barriers, often invisible, which they have faced in the workplace.
As a small step towards equity, we address all women today:
Keep track of your experiences! Bear witness to your challenges! And keep your records!
If you would like to contribute your records to Archives & Special Collections, please contact us at: arcs@uottawa.ca
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This exhibit was created by members of Archives & Special Collections in October 2022: Marina Bokovay, Kristen Mercier, Satya Miller, Marie Noël, Mary Catherine Shea, and Meghan Tibbits-Lamirande
Credits:
Archives & Special Collections, University of Ottawa