We are back to our usual space this week: Our event begins at 11am, On the 2nd floor of the Koffler house, 569 Spadina.
Ever since she joined a Women’s Liberation group in 1968, our featured speaker, Margrit Eichler, has been a feminist. Margrit will reflect on how she became a feminist, what it meant then and what it means now to define oneself as a feminist. She will touch on some of the crucial events in Canadian history: The Persons’ Case, the Royal Commission on the Status of Women, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and particularly sec. 15 (equality before and under the law), and the dramatic changes in Canadian family law. She will reflect on the problems of dealing with issues for which there was, at the time, no proper language in which to discuss them, and the resulting linguistic groping around that was required to arrive there (and continuing linguistic confusion). She will look at some of the milestones for women in Canada – how they affected her personally and how they interacted with scholarship.
Back in 1968, Margrit was a foreign student (from Germany) at Duke University. When she had to leave the USA because her visa had run out, she applied to all Canadian Sociology Departments with a graduate program to teach courses on women. She was probably the first person to be hired on that basis.
Her participation in the movement had convinced her that it asked the right questions but did not come up with the right answers. Research was needed to supply such answers. This set her on the course of developing courses, co-founding the first Canadian journal on feminist research, being involved in multiple ways in feminist studies and feminist actions, serving as expert witness in law cases, particularly with respect to gay couples, getting the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies established, and much more. Her work took her across most continents. From 1971-1975 Margrit taught at the University of Waterloo, and from 1975-2011 at OISE, from where she retired as Professor Emerita. She is a member of the Royal Society of Canada and was also elected to the European Academy of Sciences. She is now active on a volunteer basis in 6 organizations.
Our musical performer will be singer songwriter Dana Sipos. http://www.danasipos.com/
Originally hailing from the industrial landscape of Hamilton, Ontario, Dana Sipos inhabited the far Canadian north – Yellowknife, Northwest Territories – for many years before going nomad. Her captivatingly nuanced songs continue to be infused with a wild wind and a haunting, slightly hypnotic surrealism akin to the mysteries of the North. Her 2015 release, Roll Up the Night Sky, was nominated for a Canadian folk music award in the Pushing the Boundaries category celebrating innovation in creating new folk sounds. She has a new album, Trick of the Light, to be released soon this year.
To RSVP to this event please visit our Meetup page.