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This study empirically examines the ways in which anti- and pro-abortion rights actors utilize human rights frames with varying success in getting them repeated by the news media in the different legal terrains of the Republic of Ireland and Canada. Given the results of a content analysis of 1,100 news articles on abortion from six newspapers spanning five years (2009-2014) during periods of relative policy stability in these two countries, this article suggests that social movement actors who feel their voices have been ignored in their domestic contexts may find human rights frames helpful in attracting news media attention. This finding has implications for the way in which international human rights language can be harnessed by diverse actors and employed domestically in battles over women's rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introducing the concept of intra-social movement backlash this chapter explores the "legacy phase" of legal action focusing on conflicts and debates within a social movement that has mobilized. Using a legal mobilization framework attuned to the recursive relationship between rights, rights-claiming activities, and collective identity, the chapter analyzes the mixed legacies of movement strategic litigation. Empirically, the chapter offers two illustrative case studies of intra-movement backlash in the women's and the disability rights movements in Canada. The findings suggest that while this form of backlash can have negative, disempowering effects, it also offers opportunities to challenge hegemonic structures within a social movement and re-imagine collective identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Canada, women's rights organizations have successfully mobilized the law to foster gender equality. In doing so, they have been constrained by legal understandings of equality and discrimination, which have shaped their strategies to seek justice. In return, their mobilization, mainly through litigation, has contributed to craft or to alter legal categories (such as "substantive equality," "women," "sexual harassment," etc.), which in turn sustain their identities and their interests. However, claims made in the name of gender equality raise two issues: They tend to overlook the intersection of gender with other grounds of discrimination such as religion or race/ethnicity; and they tend to conflict with multiculturalism, a value enshrined in Canadian law. The recent decision taken by the province of Ontario to ban religious arbitration for family matters offers an illuminating case study of this tension between gender equality and religious rights in the Canadian context. This article analyzes women's rights activists' legal understandings of gender equality and religious/ethnic discrimination to explain how these representations have influenced women's mobilization against religious arbitration in Ontario. Bringing together the insights developed by critical legal studies about intersectionality and the study of legal mobilization, this articles explores through a concrete example the tension between feminism and multiculturalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the cultural significance of childcare services. The author examines the links between childcare services and gender equality in feminist discourse, specifically focusing on the view of free twenty-four-hour day care as a key element of women's liberation. The author claims that childcare programs in Canada and the United States are severely underdeveloped, since they are seen as a private family problem in these countries. The economic aspects of expanded childcare and early childhood development services are analyzed.

The increasing number of immigrant women in Canada who are hoping to pursue higher education has drawn my attention to the situation of Iranian immigrant women graduate students in this country. The author is a part of this population, and in her societal and academic experiences she regularly encounters the racism that continues to marginalize Middle Eastern women in Canada. This oppression has led the author to explore the roots of this marginalization and the possibilities for change and social justice in Canadian academia and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines government and advocacy group texts on three recent Canadian domestic violence policy moments. Drawing on governance, feminist poststructuralist, and social movement perspectives, it examines men's rights advocates' and feminists' discursive actions and their influence on officials. The research aim is to explore the provisional, intrinsically incomplete, and indeed questionable success, to date, of Canadian anti--domestic violence advocates' strategies and tactics of resisting men's advocates' efforts to delegitimize gendered constructions of domestic violence. At the level of political action, the article contributes to efforts by feminists internationally to safeguard protections and supports for abused women and children in a political context marked by the increasingly prominent influence of men's rights and associated antiprogressive backlash. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the satirical songs and creativity of elder women activist group Ragging Grannies in their protests in the U.S. and Canada. They use humorous songs for peace, social justice, women's rights and environmental issues to draw the attention of public and authorities. Ragging Nannies intervenes in the political scene through wearing of outrageous hats, gaudy shawls and frilly aprons. The nannies composed the songs that convey their analysis of complex issues with melodies that could easily be recognized by the audiences.

This paper presents an analysis of one of Canada's first feminist electronic discussion lists, PAR-L (Policy, Action, Research List). Based largely on the results of an on-line survey of PAR-L subscribers, we show that, even among feminists sensitive to issues of diversity and equality, power differentials related to gender, age, language and professional affiliation influence on-line interaction. While we acknowledge that the co-presence of differences in a shared space creates tensions, we argue that it also has the potential to enhance democratic communication and deepen mutual understanding within the women's movement, leading to a greater sense of connectedness and well-being among participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at "Canadian feminisms in action" in the context of transnational feminist organizing, and the attendant question of power relations between women. It suggests a conceptual framework called the "pedagogy of activism" to illustrate how reflective engagement in activism helps to name and address power dynamics. A list of principles drawn is offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the interrelationship between ethnicity, gender and class in Canadian communism in the period 1922-1930. Ethnicity is stated to have been a contested and complex relationship in the Canadian Communist Party, whereas the Ukrainian section of the party is stated to have been numerically strong. The interrelationship between ethnicity, gender and class is examined by analyzing the content of the Canadian Ukrainian newspaper "Robitnytsia." Emphasis is given on the debate concerning women's equality and the role of women in social movement published in the newspaper.

This paper examines feminist social movements in both the United States and Canada and describes and analyses the anti-feminist countermovements that have repeatedly arisen in response to them. The dialectical relationship that has existed between these movements for the last century is documented in an effort to further understand the nature and character of these two groups. Specific attention is paid to the role of the pro-family movement in Canada in opposing contemporary feminist goals. It is shown that an interdependence has developed - with the formulation of sophisticated programs, ideologies and strategies on both sides - as the struggle for dominance has intensified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The struggle which led to the guarantee of equality rights within Canada's recently entrenched Charter of Rights and Freedoms was heralded as a political victory both by and for feminists. Whilst the struggle itself both mobilized and radicalized women's groups across Canada, the actual results of Charter litigation have been much less positive. The article attempts to evaluate the Charter's impact on political discourse by examining both its mobilizing effect on women's groups and its impact upon a concrete area in which it has been invoked. To this end, the article examines how the general claim that the entrenchment of constitutionally guaranteed rights has a progressive mobilizing effect for political movements by looking at the concrete struggle of Canadian feminists to obtain equality rights in the Canadian Charter. The article then examines how the Charter has been used to challenge the Criminal Code provisions which are designed to protect women and children from sexual violence and victimization. This study shows that charter of rights are not inherently progressive, but rather depend upon the politics informing them.

The article discusses the writing of social history in English Canada from 1970 to 1984. Canadian social history has similarities with other English-language social history. It is a product of the social movements of the 1960s which has come to fruition in the 1970s and 1980s. The popularity of women's movement activists from the outset contributed a class analysis to majority of the early women's studies work in Canada and gave hegemonic position to the emerging marxist-feminist dialogue. One of the major contributions of recent working-class history has been the restoration of Eastern Canada to national consideration.

The author presents findings of comprehensive three-year project of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women, Engaging Muslim Women in Civic and Social Change. The project was designed to increase integration and participation of Muslim women to enable them to be effective agents of change in Canada's civic and socio-economic life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the implications of feminism on social equality in Canada. Feminism has always been functional in relation to the immediate and proximate, the ideological, social, cultural exigencies that underpin the experience of ordinary living in any place. It is oftentimes blamed for the persistence of oppression. It is believed that it has failed to solve women's problems. The responses of the scholars in English studies indicate that feminism is working towards social change.

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