To celebrate International Women’s Day, here is a selection of items celebrating the political and social activism of women.

You can also see a selection of material we highlighted in 2011 which included activists, community organizers, philosophers and politicians like Jean Augustine, Grace Lonergan Lorch, and Marilou McPhedran, Mary Wollstonecraft and Margaret (Dillon) Norquay available here.

Faculty, students and researchers can also refer to a subject guide compiled by a student in the School of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies in 2011  here for more resources on the women's movement held in the Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections.  York University Libraries also has a research guides for Women's Studies I and Violence Against Women. More information about local and international activities related to International Women's Day can be found here.

International Women's Day Posters

 

These posters celebrating International Women's Day were donated by Meg Luxton of the School of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies in 2011.

Bread and Roses

Bread and Roses is a popular folk song from the turn of the twentieth century attributed to a strike by textile workers in Lawrence Massachusetts between January and March of 1912.  You can listen to a recitation of this song by Lissa Donner, a member of the audience at the 1975 Mariposa Folk Festival.  The workshop was titled "Bread & Roses" and was hosted by activist and folk singer Malvina Reynolds. The workshop featured performances by Vera Johnson, Lissa Donner, Rita MacNeil, Margaret Christl, Rosalie Sorrels. Performances by Vera Johnson and Margaret Christl can be streamed through the Mariposa: celebrating Canadian folk music exhibit.

Childbirth by Choice Trust

The Childbirth by Choice Trust, founded in 1982, was the research arm of CARAL, the Canadian Abortion Rights Action League (founded in 1973 as the Canadian Association for the Repeal of the Abortion Law and renamed in 1980) and disbanded in 2005. The purpose of the organization was to educate the public on the issues of birth control, abortion and, family planning, and to advocate for legal and easily available abortion services in Canada.  The archives consists of research and reference material in the form of subject files, reports, briefs, clippings, drafts, notes and correspondence.

Finding aid available here.

Marking feminist remembrance

In December 2012, the Archives & Special Collections contributed a number of historical images from the Toronto Telegram Photograph Collection to an exhibit mounted at Ryerson University to commemorate women's memorials in the city of Toronto.  Still Moving: Feminist remembrance in vigils, protests and monument-making was researched and curated by Katherine Atkinson, designed by Leila Syed-Fatemi and supervised Dr. Sarah Henstra. Images of exhibit courtesy of Katherine Atkinson.

Sources:

 Atkinson, Katherine, Leila Syed-Fatemi, Sarah Henstra. "Still Moving: Feminist remembrance in vigils, protests and monument-making". Ryerson University, 6-11 December 2012.