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Intersectionality is a feminist theory which analyzes various forms of oppression and hierarchies of power. In addition to gender, it takes into account a number of sociodemographic factors and examines how these factors may simultaneously interact. This theory highlights the power relationships which exist between various groups. It calls for reflection regarding the positions and privileges someone has where they live. The theory of intersectionality has aroused a great deal of interest and has led to debates which help advance analysis within feminist and social movements. (See Women’s Movements in Canada: 1985 - present; Indigenous Women’s Issues in Canada.)

Gender equality is the belief that all individuals deserve the same rights and privileges, regardless of their gender.

The Front de libération des femmes du Québec (FLF) was a militant feminist organization that was active from 1969 to 1971. Even though it was around for such a short time, the FLF played an important role in the history of Quebec society. The FLF popularized a feminist analysis that linked the oppression of women with the Quebec nationalist cause. Its efforts led to the elimination of Quebec’s prohibition against women serving as jurors, as well as to government-funded daycare centres and accessible abortion services.

The term “feminism” refers to political, social, and intellectual movements working towards the goal of equality for individuals of all genders. There have always been individuals who have fought against the limits that their society placed on people based on their gender. However, feminism as a political, social and intellectual movement only started in the mid-19th century in Europe. French philosopher Charles Fourier is credited with first using the term “féminisme” in the 1830s, and “feminist” first appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1852. Since this time, feminism as a movement has spread across the world, including to Canada, in many different forms.

Anne Innis Dagg, CM, zoologist, feminist activist, author (born 25 January 1933 in Toronto, ON). Dagg is best known as a giraffe expert. In 1956, she became the first Western researcher, man or woman, to study the animal in the wild in Africa. Though better known, two of her contemporaries, Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey, followed in her footsteps: Goodall began her study of chimpanzees in 1960 and Fossey her study of mountain gorillas in 1963. Dagg was also a pioneer in the study of mammal gaits and homosexual behaviour. Later in her career she fought for equality between men and women, particularly in academia.

Angelina Napolitano, homemaker, murderer (born 1883 near Naples, Italy; died 4 September 1932 in Kingston, ON). Angelina was an Italian immigrant who killed her emotionally and physically abusive husband, Pietro Napolitano. The murder occurred on the afternoon of Easter Sunday, 16 April 1911, in a flat of a house in the immigrant quarter of Sault Ste Marie, Ontario. A mother of four children and pregnant with her fifth, Angelina, 28, struck her sleeping husband several times on the neck and head with an axe. Her story is notable for the widespread, international support she received from feminists of the time. Many saw her as a victim, someone who, in today’s terminology, would be described as “battered woman” forced to defend herself.

Elizabeth (Elsie) Muriel Gregory MacGill, OC, aeronautical engineer, feminist (born 27 March 1905 in Vancouver, BC; died 4 November 1980 in Cambridge, Massachusetts). Elsie MacGill was the first woman to earn a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering (1929). She was also the first practising Canadian woman engineer. In 1938, she became chief aeronautical engineer of Canadian Car & Foundry (Can Car). There, she headed the Canadian production of Hawker Hurricane fighter planes during the Second World War. An active feminist, MacGill was national president of the Canadian Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs (1962–64). She was also a member of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada (1967–70).

Key Facts
Born 27 March 1905, died 4 November 1980
First woman aeronautical engineer and aircraft designer
Key Canadian feminist
Oversaw production of fighter planes during WWII  
Nicknamed “Queen of the Hurricanes”

Canadian women have participated in many social movements, both on their own, and allied with men.

Women are considered labour force participants only if they work outside the home. In the past women have been expected to be in the labour force only until they marry; this reflects the historical, idealized notion of a society in which the man is the breadwinner and the woman the homemaker.

At only 16 years old, Corinne Sévigny enlisted with the Canadian Women’s Army Corps during the Second World War. Sévigny served as a driver and was one of millions of women who helped with the war effort either overseas or at home. Read and listen to Sévigny’s story in which she details the extraordinary accomplishments of her fellow women-at-arms.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

Lucy Maud Montgomery, OBE, writer (born 30 November 1874 in Clifton (now New London), PEI; died 24 April 1942 in Toronto, ON). Lucy Maud Montgomery is arguably Canada’s most widely read author. Her first novel, Anne of Green Gables (1908), became an instant best-seller. It has remained in print for more than a century, making the character of Anne Shirley a mythic icon of Canadian culture. Montgomery produced more than 500 short stories, 21 novels, two poetry collections, and numerous journal and essay anthologies. Her body of work has sold an estimated 50 million copies worldwide. Anne of Green Gables alone has been translated into at least 36 languages as well as braille. It has been adapted dozens of times in various mediums. Montgomery was named an Officer of both the Order of the British Empire and the Literary and Artistic Institute of France. She was the first Canadian woman to be made a member of the British Royal Society of Arts and she was declared a Person of National Historic Significance in Canada.

Avril Phaedra Douglas Campbell, PC, CC, QC, OBC, lawyer, professor, politician, Canada’s prime minister 25 June 1993 to 3 November 1993, diplomat, global advocate for education, democracy and women’s issues (born 10 March 1947 in Port Alberni, BC). Kim Campbell became Canada's first — and still only — female prime minister when she assumed the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party following Brian Mulroney's resignation. She was also Canada’s first female justice minister and attorney general; Canada’s first female minister of national defence and of veterans affairs; the first woman to represent a member country at a NATO meeting; and the first prime minister from British Columbia. She has received the Order of British Columbia and numerous honorary degrees and is a Companion of the Order of Canada.