What does feminism mean to me?

Despite having availed of the benefits and advantages gained by feminist advocates throughout my life, I have hesitated to identify myself as a feminist. What is that shadow that falls over the label “feminist”?  

I was born in the ‘50s and when I was becoming a young woman, it was all about Women’s Liberation.  Women were calling out the patriarchy with angry voices, and I guess I thought I should be angry too.  I thought equality was about being, “the same as” men – identical, indistinguishable. Women’s traditional roles were denigrated, including those of housewives, such as my own mother, who first taught me dignity and self-respect, self-love, a sense of humour and the joy of living. I suppressed my feelings, recklessly claimed my sexual freedom, drank with the boys, entered the trades.  Clearly, my notion of feminism never accurately reflected the movement, as evidenced by the truly meaningful improvements in the status of women that feminists have fought for and gained.

Feminism means believing in the right of women to an equal status with men in a patriarchal society such as ours.  For me, it means feeling confident that women belong everywhere – no public space is excluded to you – in the Engineering class, on the construction site, in the fishing boat, on the wharf, on the Municipal Council or any other political body – without having to suffer discrimination or harassment because of your gender.

It also means that women bring a unique female (or other) perspective to all of these spaces, which cannot truly represent them without them, and that the female perspective is worthy and true. Feminism is knowing the value of all women’s work, including women’s traditional work, and proving it by creating a society that secures their financial safety and prosperity. 

The rights that feminists have advocated for and gained, to one degree or another, are too numerous to enumerate but I will mention a few that have been gained only in my lifetime, and I think men, too, would have to admit that all of this has been great for our society: the Matrimonial Property Act - now the Family Law Act, including child support enforcement; pay equity laws, divorce laws, child care and parental leave. Women no longer face the same barriers to the trades and higher educational programs in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, based on their gender alone. 

And yet, gender-based violence has recently been declared an epidemic in our province.  There’s still so much to gain on every level and especially on violence and sexual abuse. 

Today I feel honoured and privileged to support PerSIStence Theatre Co., which continues to hold up the banner of feminism and to remind us that our evolution as a society - and my evolution as a feminist - is not finished.  I look forward to learning about activism which includes, “all those facing gender-based barriers, such as “transgender, non-binary, 2SLGBTQIA+, Black, Indigenous, racialized, Deaf, disabled, and people with lived experience”.  

Joan

*

Joan Woodrow is Treasurer of PerSIStence Theatre Company. Find her bio, and those of our other board members, here. 

What does feminism mean to me?

Despite having availed of the benefits and advantages gained by feminist advocates throughout my life, I have hesitated to identify myself as a feminist. What is that shadow that falls over the label “feminist”?  

I was born in the ‘50s and when I was becoming a young woman, it was all about Women’s Liberation.  Women were calling out the patriarchy with angry voices, and I guess I thought I should be angry too.  I thought equality was about being, “the same as” men – identical, indistinguishable. Women’s traditional roles were denigrated, including those of housewives, such as my own mother, who first taught me dignity and self-respect, self-love, a sense of humour and the joy of living. I suppressed my feelings, recklessly claimed my sexual freedom, drank with the boys, entered the trades.  Clearly, my notion of feminism never accurately reflected the movement, as evidenced by the truly meaningful improvements in the status of women that feminists have fought for and gained.

Feminism means believing in the right of women to an equal status with men in a patriarchal society such as ours.  For me, it means feeling confident that women belong everywhere – no public space is excluded to you – in the Engineering class, on the construction site, in the fishing boat, on the wharf, on the Municipal Council or any other political body – without having to suffer discrimination or harassment because of your gender.

It also means that women bring a unique female (or other) perspective to all of these spaces, which cannot truly represent them without them, and that the female perspective is worthy and true. Feminism is knowing the value of all women’s work, including women’s traditional work, and proving it by creating a society that secures their financial safety and prosperity. 

The rights that feminists have advocated for and gained, to one degree or another, are too numerous to enumerate but I will mention a few that have been gained only in my lifetime, and I think men, too, would have to admit that all of this has been great for our society: the Matrimonial Property Act - now the Family Law Act, including child support enforcement; pay equity laws, divorce laws, child care and parental leave. Women no longer face the same barriers to the trades and higher educational programs in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, based on their gender alone. 

And yet, gender-based violence has recently been declared an epidemic in our province.  There’s still so much to gain on every level and especially on violence and sexual abuse. 

Today I feel honoured and privileged to support PerSIStence Theatre Co., which continues to hold up the banner of feminism and to remind us that our evolution as a society - and my evolution as a feminist - is not finished.  I look forward to learning about activism which includes, “all those facing gender-based barriers, such as “transgender, non-binary, 2SLGBTQIA+, Black, Indigenous, racialized, Deaf, disabled, and people with lived experience”.  

Joan

*

Joan Woodrow is Treasurer of PerSIStence Theatre Company. Find her bio, and those of our other board members, here.