The Fight of Feminism in Canada

The Fight of Feminism in Canada

-Now and Then-

“Feminism is the radical notion that women are human beings.” This famous quote, said by Cheris Kramerae, may sound like an inflated representation of the issues faced by women in society, but when the facts are laid out, the truth is not too far. The rights given to women throughout history had to be fought for intensely and even though today’s situation is not as bad as it used to be, there are still some battles that have not been won yet. This essay will focus mostly on the place of women in the working field and on their reproductive rights.

        The feminist movement in Canada happened in two waves. The first one started in the late 19th century and ended early in the 20th century. It was mostly centralized on the way women were seen in society and on obtaining some basic rights such as the right to vote, the increase of their right to access education, their right on property and the right to be recognized as “persons” by the law. The second wave happened after the Second World War. During that time, more specific and major fights were led by women. After working typical men’s jobs during the war, women all over the nation realized that they were capable of doing as much as men and that they could be both mothers and workers. The fights were then aimed more towards the rights and role of women in the workplace, the need to receive an equal pay for equal work, reproductive rights and the stop of violence against women. Slowly, women's right is starting to make progress. In 1952, the law that fired women from the federal public services once they got married was suppressed. Between 1951 and 1959, numerous legislations for equal pay were passed amongst the federal and provincial governments. The effects of the female labour force movement were not going unnoticed. Between 1951 and 1994 the presence of women in the workplace went from 11% to 57.6% and the gap between men and women’s pay was of 36%, in 1980 and of 28% in 1993. Nowadays, the presence of women in the workplace is far more common and less stigmatised. In 2014, the presence of women in Canadian workplaces was of 81.9% and for men, 90.5%. Even though the statistics are showing a tremendous improvement, there still is a little more work to do in that field. The biggest fight left to win is the one linked to pay gap. Canada is ranked 11th out of 17 comparable developed countries. In average, Canadian women earn 81 cents for each dollar earned by their male colleagues. Even though a lot of battles have been won by the feminist movement in Canada, there still is a long way to go to reach absolute equality of the sex in the work field as much as in life in general.

        Other than workplace fights, women have also been fighting to obtain power over their own body. This is mainly what the fight to reproductive rights have been about. The main fights in that field were for women to obtain the right to birth control and to abortion. The question of birth control techniques such as the pill, have been controversial for a long period of time. In the 20th century, the Criminal Code of 1892 was still being followed and stated that birth control was obscene and tended to corrupt morals. It could be punished by jail time for the woman undergoing it and it was not until after the Second World War and the baby boom that the pill’s public acceptance quickly increased. Its legalization happened in 1969. For the question of abortion, the fight was more treacherous.  Still following the 1892 Criminal Code, both the woman and doctor involved in the abortion were charged for breaking the law and could be sent to jail for life. Pressures to legalize abortion began in the 1960s, but it was not until 1988 that this right was acquainted. Nowadays, women’s reproductive rights have highly improved, but there still are some issues around the accessibility in some provinces and the funding of the clinics offering these services, as much for contraception than abortion.