Losing Common Ground: Feminists, Conservatives and Public Policy in Canada during the Mulroney Years

Abstract

This article examines relations between organized feminism and the federal Conservative government of Brian Mulroney, focusing on elements of the Canadian women's movement that targeted federal policy change from 1984 to 1993. In questioning the main priorities of both sides and the potential for conflict between them, the discussion uses the conceptual literature on social movement evolution as a base. It assesses formal decision making across five major policy sectors identified by Canadian feminism and presents the perspectives of movement activists on the Mulroney period. Although comparisons with policy action under the Thatcher and Reagan governments indicate a more pro-feminist record in Canada than the United Kingdom or the United States, Canadian materials suggest a narrowing of common ground between the organized women's movement and federal elites during the Mulroney years.

Gendered Political Opportunities? Elite Alliances, Electoral Cleavages, and Activity Choice Among Women's Groups in the UK, France, and Germany

“…This is due in part to the more pluralist interest group arrangement in the UK as opposed to a more corporatist arrangement in Germany and to a lesser extent in France. In addition, British women's groups were maintained even under conservative governance in the 1980s (Bashevkin, 1996). Although French interest groups in general tend to be weak (Poloni-Staudinger, 2005), the relatively lower activity among German than French groups substantiates the weakness of German women's groups during and after unification in the 1990s and/or the renewed vitality of French women during parity campaigns (Opello, 2006).…”

Does Talk Lead to Action? An Examination of the Relationship between Debate and Funding for NGOs in Canada

“…Government funding for interest groups and NGOs has a long history in Canada and there is an extensive body of work that describes such funding over time (see, e.g., Bashevkin ; Laforest ; Pal ; Rodgers and Knight ). However, far less research has focused on the predictors of government funding for NGOs—under what conditions does funding tend to increase or decrease?…”

State Antifeminism

“…Right-wing conservative and neo-liberal governments are broadly seen as inimical to the interests of women, and they endeavour to curtail the influence of feminists (see Bashevkin 1996;Kantola 2006;Kantola and Squires 2012). In an editorial in the Montreal daily Le Devoir And this is not to mention the stratagems of Conservative backbenchers trying to re-criminalize abortion, and the destruction of the arms registry created after the lethal antifeminist attack against women on 6 December 1989 at the École polytechnique in Montreal (Blais 2014a This comment is a reminder that antifeminism can be found both on the left and the right of the political spectrum, as academics have long recognized (Bard 1999;Capitan and Guillaumin 1997;Dworkin 1983 (Koskas and Schwartz 2006).…”