Feminist Resistance in the Gta: the Harris Years (1995-2001)
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FEMINIST RESISTANCE IN THE GTA: THE HARRIS YEARS (1995-2001) FEMINIST RESISTANCE IN THE GTA: STORIES OF FEMINIST STRUGGLE, RESISTANCE AND SUCCESS DURING THE HARRIS YEARS (1995-2001) By GILLIAN ANDERSON, B.A., M.A. A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy McMaster University © Copyright by Gillian Anderson, January 2014 ii McMaster University DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (2014) Hamilton, Ontario (Sociology) TITLE: Feminist Resistance in the GTA: Stories of Feminist Struggle, Resistance and Success During the Harris Years (1995-2001) AUTHOR: Gillian Anderson, B.A., M.A. (University of Calgary) SUPERVISOR; Professor Robert Storey NUMBER OF PAGES: 353 iii ABSTRACT While neoliberalism has increasingly been entrenched in the province of Ontario, it has also encountered resistance. A primary goal of this dissertation is to provide a vivid historical account of women’s organizing and feminist resistance that emerged during the Harris years (1995-2001). Drawing on the narratives of thirty three feminist activists and leaders working within three different organizational settings, namely organized labour, anti-racist, and anti-violence organizations, this research project aims to capture an important moment in time when women and feminists were speaking out against some of the most pressing issues of the day including gender (in)equality, poverty, violence, sexism, racism and discrimination. Thematically, this research highlights the numerous challenges, strategies and successes experienced by a variety of differently located feminists and women’s groups. By theoretically and analytically situating these women’s narrative accounts within a qualitative, intersectional feminist framework, this collection of stories not only allow us to (re)examine theoretical and practical issues related to intersectionality and pose questions for the present state of feminist organizations, but also contributes to our understanding of feminist organizational resistance in the future, the long-term impact of said resistance and how we might go about addressing the challenges that lie ahead. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am indebted to all who made this research project possible. I would like to especially extend much gratitude and heartfelt thanks to my supervisor, and supervisory committee comprised of Dr. Robert Storey, Dr. Pamela Sugiman and Dr. Donna Baines. Your unwavering support, intellectual guidance, mentorship, patience, and generosity of time and spirit – among countless other contributions, are most appreciated. I have benefitted personally and professionally from your collective wisdom and labour and for this I am thankful. In addition, I would like to thank Dr. Barbara Crow and Dr. Rhonda Lenton who provided feedback on early portions of this work. And to my friend and colleague Dr. Joseph Moore, thanks for your support and encouraging words. This research was also made possible in part due to funding provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada in the form of a doctoral research fellowship; an Ontario Graduate Scholarship; and an internal research grant awarded by the Department of Labour Studies, McMaster University. To the feminist women who gave so freely of their time and openly shared their stories and experiences with me, I sincerely hope this work does justice to your ongoing efforts. Your staunch support of women’s equality rights, feminist activism and resiliency evidenced at a particular historical moment have not only contributed to the richness of the sociology of feminist organizing, but have enabled me to craft an academic work that acknowledges and centres the importance of feminist resistance. Finally to Simon and my Mom and Dad, thank you for your continual support of my educational and professional pursuits. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1. Introduction: Feminist Organizing in a Neoliberal Climate 1 The Research Context: The Harris Years and “The Common Sense Revolution” 4 My Study 16 Chapter Overview 23 Summary 27 2. Review of the Literature: A Theoretical and Empirical Overview of Feminist Organizing 32 “What is Feminism?” 32 Feminism and Women’s Movements 36 Feminism as a Theoretical Project: Feminist Intersectional Theorizing 41 Conceptualizing Feminist Organizations, Feminist Goals, and Feminist Practices 67 Feminist Organizing and the Neoliberal State 77 Summary 88 3. Research Design and Methodology: A Feminist Case Study 89 Overview: Feminist Theory and Research 90 The Interviews 94 Sampling Considerations 99 Snowball Sampling 108 Ethical Considerations 112 Data Analysis 114 Feminist Reflections on the Research Process 117 Acknowledging the Social Location of the Researcher 120 Issues Arising in Feminist Research 120 Summary 129 4. Feminist Challenges: Stories of Struggle 131 Feminist Reflections of Harris’ Legacy: “Compounding Cuts” and “Policy Shifts” 133 Increased Gender Inequality 134 Women Pick Up the Pieces 136 A Mean-spirited Culture 137 Long Lived Effects 139 Summary: Feminist Critique of Effects and Logic of Neoliberalism 140 The Struggle for Financial Survival 145 The Fear of Funding Loss and Loss of Voice 151 vi The “Attack on Advocacy”: The Tension Between Service Provision and Political Action (Spalter-Roth and Schreiber,1995) 162 Maintaining Feminist Principles in the Face of Adversity 171 Summary 185 5. Feminist Survival Stories: Strategies of Resistance 187 Feminist Survival Stories: Narrative Themes 187 Coalition Building: The Meta-narrative of Feminist Resistance 188 Other Stories of Survival Strategies 190 Contrary to the Meta-Narrative: Feminist Resistance is not Futile 191 Feminist Resistance and the Importance of Coalitional Opposition 196 Coalitional Opposition as a Reformist Strategy: Feminist Resistance and The Cross Sectoral Violence Against Women Strategy Group (CSVAWSG) 202 Coalitional Politics and Direct Action: Feminist Resistance and The Days of Action (DOA) 219 Additional Stories of Feminist Resistance: Partnering as a Feminist Strategy? 227 “Diversification of Funding Strategies” (Disney and Gelb, 2000) 235 The Use of Insider Tactics 242 “Covert Resistance and Apparent Accommodation” (Mathews, 1995) 250 Summary: Coalition Building and Feminist Resistance 252 6. “Small Victories” and “Partial Wins”: “Feminist Success Stories” 259 (Blackford, Garceau and Kirby, 1999) “Feminist Success Stories” (Blackford, Garceau and Kirby, 1999): Narrative Themes 259 “We lost” 262 “We survived” 263 “We kept our voice” 263 “We had small wins” and “We gained” 264 “Fighting back is important to open spaces and create future opportunities” 265 Narrative Examples of Feminist Success 265 Change is Possible 266 Defining Feminist “Success” 267 “Feminist Success Stories” (Blackford, Garceau and Kirby, 1999): The CSVAWSG 288 The Days of Action – Opening Spaces to Further the Struggle 300 Feminist Social Change: Opening Spaces to Make Change Now and in the Future 313 Summary 319 vii 7. Conclusion: Feminist Reflections – Lessons for Future Feminist Research 325 Lessons Learned: Stories of Struggle – Moral #1 “Feminists are not strangers to struggle” 326 Lessons Learned: Stories of Resistance – Moral #2: “Neoliberalism may constrain, but it does not preclude feminist resistance, and so feminist resistance is not futile” 330 Lessons Learned: “Feminist Success Stories” (Blackford, Garceau and Kirby, 1999) – Moral #3: “Small successes are important, as success is often slow and incremental” 333 Implications for Intersectional Feminist Theory and Practice Lessons learned: theory doesn’t always obviously translate into practice but diversity of practice may bring out theory of intersectionality 335 Suggestions for Future Research: Stories to be Told 344 Concluding Remarks: “Research as Resistance” (Brown and Strega, 2005) 350 Appendix A Table One: Breakdown of Select Organizations Included in this Study 354 Appendix B Interview Schedule 355 Appendix C Primary Documents Collected 357 Appendix D Table Two: Summary of Mandates and Mission Statements of Select Organizations Included in this Study 366 Appendix E Table Three: Feminist Leaders and Activists Interviewed in the GTA in 2002 372 Bibliography 375 1 CHAPTER ONE Introduction: Feminist Organizing in a Neoliberal Climate A recent news headline reads, “Harper government cuts funding to key feminist groups” (Mullins, 2010). A CTV news Top Story reports “Harper government axes funding for 11 women’s groups” (http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20100504 /Harper-womens-funding-100504/, accessed May 22, 2012). And so it seems that in the current neoliberal climate of government cutbacks and austerity measures, women’s equality rights remain in constant jeopardy, while the “very organizations” that have long championed said rights are being “conveniently weaken[ed]” (Beaman as cited by Mullins, 2010: http://digitaljournal. com/article/291658, accessed May 1, 2012). Given the rightward shift in Canadian politics exemplified by the social and economic conservative stance of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s federal Conservative Party of Canada (c.2006) and the fiscal conservatism of Ralph Klein’s Alberta (c. 1993- 2007) and Gordon Campbell’s BC Liberal (c. 2001-2011) governments, women’s movement claims and feminist demands may be “delegitimized” (Harder, 2003) and eroded by neoliberal1 governments with a vested interest in “evacuating politics from the 1Note my use of terminology. The terms neo-liberalism and neo-conservatism are often confused (Bezanson, 2006:9). In