About Canada Women’s Rights

In the supposedly enlightened ’60s and ’70s, violence against women was widespread. It wasn’t talked about, and women had few, if any, options to escape their abusers. Yet in 1973 — with no statistics, no money and little public support — five disparate groups of Canadian women quietly opened Canada’s first battered women’s shelters. Today, there are well over 600.

A passionate advocate for gender equity, and one of our most respected journalists, explores the most pressing issues facing women in Canada today with humour and heart.

Both yesterday's suffragists and today's feminists have battled for women to vote and hold office, and their successes have made it possible for countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Iceland, Liberia, and the United Kingdom to have female heads of state. Despite these notable advances, women are still largely underrepresented in parliaments and governments around the world. Why, after so many years of feminist struggle, are women still obstructed from full political citizenship by a glass ceiling?

Until the late 1960s, the authorities on abortion were for the most part men―politicians, clergy, lawyers, physicians, all of whom had an interest in regulating women's bodies. Even today, when we hear women speak publicly about abortion, the voices are usually those of the leaders of women's and abortion rights organizations, women who hold political office, and, on occasion, female physicians. We also hear quite frequently from spokeswomen for anti-abortion groups.