Canadian Women & the Struggle for Equality Lorna R. Marsden’s Canadian Women & the Struggle for Equality: The Road to Gender Equality since 1867 is one that documents the journey of women in Canada almost 150 years ago and the key moments in their journey towards equality. Marsden draws extensively from numerous historical documents that chronicle the path towards equality and also shows the struggles women have faced since the time of confederation and the challenges women in Canada still face to this day. Marsden not only uses perceptions from sociology, but insights from history, women’s studies, and political science, which allows the reader to gain an accurate and deep intuitive understanding of the book. In her work, Marsden explores
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She traces gender inequality in Canada back to the British North America (BNA) Act of 1867. In her book, she writes that the “first major flaw was the complete omission of rights or recognition of women. Women neither participated directly in nor were mentioned as a group in the debate that led to the BNA Act” (p. 30). This meant that women were ignored in public life and suppressed in private life. Women were not allowed to vote and their citizenships were tied to their husbands or fathers. They were seen as wives, mothers rather than as independent persons. Furthermore, women also had no choice in their marriage partners and she would be forcefully steered to a man by her parents. Interracial marriages were strongly discouraged, and the use of deportation of one or both of the intended spouses was the norm. A status woman marrying a white man meant the loss of her Indian status and all the rights that entailed. Only married women had access to birth control and had limited control of childbearing. Even marriage did not mean equality for women, and this is evident in the case of Irene Murdoch, an Alberta ranch wife in 1973, where the Supreme Court ruled that despite the fact that Mrs. Irene had built, maintained the family ranch together with her husband, she was not entitled to an interest in the …show more content…
She fails to recognize and acknowledge individually the women activists who fought against poverty, racism, and gender issues. In the book, Marsden ignores the roles these women played in achieving the milestones women made back in those days. She does not include the different and specific types of feminisms that developed during each era; she ignores radical feminists who were mainly popular back in the early 90’s, and whose activism provided a foundation and breeding ground for many ideas arising from feminism that was then shaped into various other types and forms of feminisms. Radical feminists goal was to eliminate patriarchy and focused on social change, which is the core of Marsden’s book and it would have added a little more to the book if Marsden had acknowledged their works and the changes in the different types of feminism that have occurred since
She traces gender inequality in Canada back to the British North America (BNA) Act of 1867. In her book, she writes that the “first major flaw was the complete omission of rights or recognition of women. Women neither participated directly in nor were mentioned as a group in the debate that led to the BNA Act” (p. 30). This meant that women were ignored in public life and suppressed in private life. Women were not allowed to vote and their citizenships were tied to their husbands or fathers. They were seen as wives, mothers rather than as independent persons. Furthermore, women also had no choice in their marriage partners and she would be forcefully steered to a man by her parents. Interracial marriages were strongly discouraged, and the use of deportation of one or both of the intended spouses was the norm. A status woman marrying a white man meant the loss of her Indian status and all the rights that entailed. Only married women had access to birth control and had limited control of childbearing. Even marriage did not mean equality for women, and this is evident in the case of Irene Murdoch, an Alberta ranch wife in 1973, where the Supreme Court ruled that despite the fact that Mrs. Irene had built, maintained the family ranch together with her husband, she was not entitled to an interest in the …show more content…
She fails to recognize and acknowledge individually the women activists who fought against poverty, racism, and gender issues. In the book, Marsden ignores the roles these women played in achieving the milestones women made back in those days. She does not include the different and specific types of feminisms that developed during each era; she ignores radical feminists who were mainly popular back in the early 90’s, and whose activism provided a foundation and breeding ground for many ideas arising from feminism that was then shaped into various other types and forms of feminisms. Radical feminists goal was to eliminate patriarchy and focused on social change, which is the core of Marsden’s book and it would have added a little more to the book if Marsden had acknowledged their works and the changes in the different types of feminism that have occurred since