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New Struggles for a New Feminism: Stand Strong, Quebec Women!

Starting in the 1970s, more and more women found work in regional print media. Unfortunately, social attitudes did not necessarily keep pace with their ambitions. Many business leaders continued to see a woman’s place as being in the home.

On the other hand, I was happy to see some daily newspapers, like Le Nouvelliste, advocate for women’s access to the job market, especially where journalism was concerned.

Female staff at Le Nouvelliste achieved pay equity in 1972. Still, even if media companies were showing us more respect and starting to treat us as equals, the world of advertising continued to perpetuate a stereotypical view. We were depicted as passive and subordinate, or in traditional female roles. We spoke out about the situation in our columns.

Clipping from Le Nouvelliste with an article by Toronto journalist Sandra Ingalsbe.

Article criticizing advertisements for promoting discrimination against women

 

Other women went further. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, some organized to fight back against the oppression they faced. One group, the Front de libération des femmes du Québec (Quebec Women’s Liberation Front) campaigned to decriminalize abortion, eliminate stereotypes, and secure access to childcare and maternity leave.

Inspired by the fight against workplace harassment and domestic violence, I became personally involved.

Black and white photograph showing a row of fence panels painted with the words “Québécoises Deboute!” A woman is standing next to the fence.

Fence panels painted with the slogan of the Front de libération des femmes du Québec: “Québécoises deboutte!” (Stand Strong, Quebec Women!)

 

In the 1980s and 1990s, my activism was mainly focused on environmental protection. I took part in several Saint-Maurice River shoreline clean-ups. I saw it as the least I could do to protect our regional ecosystem.

Black and white photograph of children playing on equipment left behind by a since-closed industrial operation. The photograph was taken during a clean-up effort along the banks of the Champlain River in August 1989.

Shoreline clean-up

Black and white photograph showing people working on a log drive on the Saint-Maurice River in 1987. Nine people are standing on a pontoon, holding poles.

Log drive on the Saint-Maurice River

I was shocked by the opening of the Gentilly-2 Nuclear Generating Station on the shores of the St. Lawrence River. It was going to pollute the river with its waste, something I found truly absurd.

And yet, given the number of jobs the facility would create, it was difficult if not impossible to write articles about it in Le Nouvelliste. Still, I did manage to campaign against the power plant with the help of Greenpeace.

Black and white photograph of three Greenpeace activists in an inflatable boat on the St. Lawrence River, in front of the Gentilly-2 Nuclear Generating Station. They are holding up a banner with the words “No to Nuclear.”

Greenpeace protest against the Gentilly-2 Nuclear Generating Station

 

My activism also addressed social issues. New groups were even established to address how injustice and inequality impacted least developed countries. For instance, in the late 1980s, I was active in the third world solidarity movement. A committee was established in Trois-Rivières on September 11, 1973, shortly after the military coup in Chile.

Clipping from Le Nouvelliste with an article by Marc Rochette on the Comité de solidarité Tiers-Monde de Trois-Rivières.

Notice regarding the launch of an awareness campaign by the Comité de solidarité Tiers-Monde (Third World Solidarity Committee) published in Le Nouvelliste

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