The Royal Commission on the Status of Women

"In April 1963, when Judy LaMarsh became Minister of National Health and Welfare in the Pearson Administration, she indicated to the Prime Minister the need for a public inquiry on the status of women in Canada similar to one which President Kennedy had established in the United States. ... Although the subject was raised in the federal cabinet on 11 October 1965, according to LaMarsh, the Prime Minister did not respond because the press in Canada was very negative to the idea. LaMarsh, who became Secretary of State in December 1965, claimed that she would have been unable to convince the federal government to appoint a Commission on women's rights without the assistance of Laura Sabia, then President of the Canadian Federation of University Women. On 18 April 1966, Sabia sent a letter to all established women's organizations in Canada calling for a meeting to discuss the status of women. The meeting, held in Toronto on 3 May 1966, was attended by 50 women representing 32 organizations. It led to the establishment of the Committee on the Equality of Women in Canada (CEW) under Sabia's leadership. ... Despite these initiatives, the government was hesitant. Early in January 1967, Sabia, the head of CEW, reacted by a veiled threat of a women's march on Ottawa. In addition, Judy LaMarsh continued to exert pressure for action on women's issues within the Cabinet. Finally, on 3 February 1967, the Prime Minister announced that the Government had decided to establish a royal commission. .... The Commission was mandated to inquire into and report upon the status of women in Canada, and to recommend what steps might be taken by the Federal Government to ensure for women equal opportunities with men in all aspects of Canadian society, having regard for the distribution of legislative powers under the constitution of Canada, particularly with reference to federal statutes, regulations and policies that concern or affect the rights and activities of women ... The commissioners were Florence Bayard Bird, Chairperson; Lola M. Lange, Jeanne Lapointe, Elsie Gregory MacGill, Doris Ogilvie, Jacques Henripin and Donald Gordon, Jr." [LAC]

The Royal Commission on the Status of Women was a watershed for the women’s movement and a symbol of second wave feminism. It was a critical juncture characterized by Naomi Black as the “first success of the second wave of Canadian feminism." According to Black, "the key period for the second wave of the Canadian women’s movement was the years 1967-1970. The activities of the Royal Commission in this period resulted in a significant increase in public awareness of women’s situation. The same period produced women’s liberation and radical feminism in Canada. These latter groups, which drew substantial public attention, can take much of the credit for directing attention to such crucial women’s issues as equal pay, abortion, and violence against women.”

The Royal Commission on the Status of Women published its report in 1970, and it became a rallying point for women and led to the formation of a new national federation of women’s organizations. As Joan Sangster argues: "Most scholars agree that pressure for a royal commission was related to a rapidly changing female labour force, as the number of wage-earning women, most significantly those with families, was increasingly significantly: in 1941, just fewer than 4 per cent of married women worked outside the home, but by 1961, this was 22 per cent, and by the time of the RCSW, 30 per cent. In arguing for a royal commission, feminists not only drew on the prevailing political language of civil and human rights, they also pointed to the ‘new’ reality that women were lifelong, not temporary, members of the workforce – an argument used earlier in the 1950s in similar feminist lobbying for a federal women’s bureau."

Those feminists who had been central in lobbying the government to create the commission formed the National Ad Hoc Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC) in 1971. The NAC’s primary mandate was to ensure the implementation of the commission’s recommendations. By 1972 the NAC represented more than 42 associations. Following the formation of NAC the “women’s movement expanded enormously both in the numbers of women’s organizations it included and in the range of issues. ... [T]he number of women’s organizations and services started up in the 1970s is staggering.” [Adamson et al.] For instance, the women’s movement experienced truly spectacular growth in British Columbia in the 1960s and 1970s (pop: 2m-2.5m). Only a few women’s groups were active in the province by the late 1960s but, by the mid-1970,s more than 76 local advocacy groups were created. Moreover, there emerged at least 46 women’s centres, 15 transition houses, 12 rape crisis centres, 36 service oriented organizations (health centres, self-defence programs) and 20 artistic initiatives (women’s music festivals, bookstores) in the early 1970s alone. This is a remarkable growth in comparison to any region in North America. Although not all of these developments were linked to the royal commission, it did play an important role overall in mobilizing women across the country.