Feminist Education

Background

In the late 1970s, there were two main government national organizations, both based in Ottawa, Ontario, to research, address and promote women's rights and educational issues. One was the Canadian Congress for Learning Opportunities for Women (CCLOW), founded in 1971 as an advisory committee of women adult educators. The other was the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (CRIAW), founded in 1976. Most of the women on the Women's Research Centre Committee were members of one or both organizations. 

In response to a growing demand from women, women's groups, and academics for more feminist courses, the Women's Program was established at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta in 1981 to further women's studies, and a full-time coordinator was hired in July of that year. The program quickly surpassed its orginal mandate and became a centre for women's resources in Edmonton and northern Alberta.  

In 1984, the Secretary of State for Canada proposed the establishment of five Chairs in Women's Studies for Canada and a joint proposal to establish a Chair from the prairie provinces was submitted by the University of Alberta and Athabasca University in Athabasca, Alberta. With the dual goals of having a Chair created and furthering women's studies, an Advisory Committee on Women's Studies was launched in the fall of 1984 at the University of Alberta. The committee was composed mainly of women academics from the University of Alberta but included Rebecca Coulter, the Coordinator of Women's Studies at Athabasca University. In February, 1987, the name of the committee was changed to the Coordinating Committee on Women's Studies, a committee sponsored by the Vice President (Academic) at the University of Alberta.

In May, 1985, the committee was still known as the Advisory Committee on Women's Studies and it was then that the idea of forming a Women's Research Centre was broached. Marilyn Assheton-Smith, then Co-Chair of the Advisory Committee, and several other committee members began the task of clarifying the committee's vision for the Research Centre. Their proposal to establish a jointly sponsored Women's Research Centre was endorsed by Ross H. Paul, Vice President Academic Development Committee and General Facilities Council of the University of Alberta on September 26, 1988.  

The main research objectives of the Women's Research Centre were:

• to provide a base for interdisciplinary feminist research
• to contribute to the building of an interdisciplinary knowledge base in women's studies
• to provide a home for visitors engaged in women's studies research
• to provide a locale for academics and women's groups in the community to be mutually supportive in relation to women's research
• to provide a structure for receiving funds for women's research

Collection Rationale

This collection includes items related to the Women's Research Centre's (WRC) work in the area of women and education, broadly understood (see Women's Program and Resource Centre, right).

It includes, for example, lists of Women's Studies courses and course outlines, records from the Women's Studies Operations Committee, reports related to women and education from government organizations and NGOs, and organizational materials from the Canadian Congress for Learning Opportunities for Women (CCLOW). 

In addition, it includes resources about relevant events that the WRC was involved in, such as the 1991 CRIAW Conference and the Feminist Research Forum.

A selection of items from the collection are highlighted below.

To see all the items in the collection, click Browse The Feminist Education Collection below