BRANTFORD, Ont. – Derogatory, isn’t it? These are the words stated by Timothy Jacobs, a professor who teaches Reading Fiction, a first year class at Wilfrid Laurier University. He opened his class on Nov. 18; roughly an hour after the F-Word event had ended stating “feminists make some damn good cupcakes”. What possessed Jacobs to say this? Likely he was trying to be funny and draw a laugh from the crowd, which he did. The thoughts that Jacobs shared with his students that day, as well as the students who responded with laughter, are one of many reasons we have begun to see a revival in the feminist movement as of late.
Courtney Yole, a first year concurrent education student at Laurier, commented on Jacobs’s outburst. “I can’t believe I’m expected to learn from someone so belligerent of other people’s values,” Yole said “I’m honestly surprised that no one left or shouted at him.” Yole notes that although she doesn’t consider herself to be a feminist, she knows that what Jacobs said shouldn’t be acceptable, especially not in a classroom.
Feminism, despite the misconceptions which exist about it, is an organizational movement with roots in advocating for equal rights for men and women. Those who identify as a feminist, or support the feminist movement, aim to end the inequality which exists between men and women and to stop the discrimination that occurs due to this inequality. Examples of this inequality can be found in religious sectors, certain cultures, unequal pay for equal labour, women being passed over for jobs based on their gender, and in the overrepresentation of women in statistics regarding single parenting and lack of financial means.
The F-Word event, which was planned last spring by many of Laurier faculty, took place on Nov. 18th in Brantford. The event included an information fair which hosted many organizations such as the black students association, rainbow alliance, project empathy, women’s centre and aboriginal student services. Dana Gillett an employee in the Diversity and Equity Office at Wilfrid Laurier in Waterloo explained that “each of these organizations has their own perspective on feminism and how it relates to them and their oppression, but their goals are all similar and focus on ending that oppression.” Gillett noted that although many of these organizations have not been founded at the Laurier Brantford campus, she is hopeful they soon will be. The event also featured an activity allowing those who attended to create their own Barbie toy as real women are today. A panel later convened to express their views on a variety of topics such as the stereotype of what being a feminist is, the effect of the1989 Montreal Massacre, and why or why not each panellist considered themselves to be a feminist. The panel included Lyla Miklos, an award-winning broadcaster; Bryn Ossington, a Women’s Studies and Philosophy student at Laurier Waterloo; Alicia Sayers a student at Laurier Brantford; and Margaret Toye, a Women’s Studies Professor at Laurier.
The Montreal Massacre which occurred in 1989 played heavily on the minds of Miklos and Toye during the discussion. On Dec. 6, 1989 at École Polytechnique Marc Lépine shot 28 people, killing 14 women, injuring 10 women, and killing four men before turning the gun on himself. Lépine focused his attack on women. He went so far as to divide the men and women within a classroom and shoot only the women. After his death, a suicide note was found citing more women, –which he identified as feminists—that he had planned to kill. Francine Pelletier, now a journalist, was one of the women on Lépines’ list. At an event held in 2009 in memory of the 14 women who died during the massacre, Pelletier stated: “If [Lépine] had wanted to target women, he would have gone to a nursing school. He was targeting women who had the audacity to want to do a man’s job.” École Polytechnique’s focus is on engineering. According to Statistics Canada, less than one-third of engineers are women.
When reflecting on the event, Toye discussed her initial reaction. “I was really disturbed about the media coverage of the event… of how many people were screaming loudly ‘how can you call this an issue against women?’” For Toye, this represented one of three events that year which lead her to begin labelling herself as a feminist.
After all the struggle endured over the last century since feminism became a common belief, enormous change has occurred for women. Voting rights were established and the Canadian constitution was amended to recognize women as people rather than property. Legal documents, such as the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, have been passed demanding equal rights for men and women. Although in many cases these equal rights are still more ideal than reality, society has become more accepting of women’s rights. The stereotypes that once held women back still exist and feminists struggles are far from over. Women still do not receive equal pay for working the same jobs as men and continue to encounter obstacles that men do not when striving for promotions within companies. Not enough change has occurred for the feminist movement to stop entirely.
Feminism may not seem to be on the forefront of many modern issues, but it certainly is. It’s the ever changing definition of feminism that makes this true. Feminism isn’t just advocating for equal rights between men and women, but between races, ethnicities, and sexual orientations, along with a variety of other topics. As Gillett stated, feminism is about finding the oppressive forces in any group and working to stop them.
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