Demanding Equality

For one hundred years women fashioned different dreams of social transformation in their search for equality, autonomy, and dignity; yet what is Canadian feminism? Demanding Equality offers illustrations of feminist thought and organizing from mid-nineteenth-century, Enlightenment-inspired writing to the multi-issue movement of the 1980s. Broadening our definition of feminism and recognizing that its political, cultural, and social dimensions are entangled Joan Sangster explores the different pathways pursued to gain equality. She challenges the popular wave theory, concluding that feminist activism was continuous, despite changing significantly across decades. Demanding Equality presents a picture of a heterogeneous movement characterized by both alliances and fierce internal debates. This comprehensive rear-view look at feminism in all its political guises encourages a wider public conversation about what Canadian feminism has been, is, and should be.