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There is a widespread claim that the women's movement of the 1960s and 1970s was middle-class and that its politics of reforming the state reflected the concerns of middle-class women. This paper challenges that claim, arguing instead that the development of the women's movement created an environment in which a union-based, working-class feminism became an important political factor. Working-class and socialist-feminist activists developed a strong feminist presence in the labour movement and a significant working-class orientation in the women's movement that both continue to influence the current women's movement.

The article discusses the research and scholarship of feminist scholars on family sociology in Canada from the 1960s through the mid 2010s, including the feminist sociology of families. The relationship between neoliberalism and gender, including the alleged indifference of neoliberal government policies to gender of income earners, is discussed. An overview of Canada's national statistics agency Statistics Canada's data on labor, including on domestic labor, gender divisions in labor, women's employment and unpaid household work, is provided.

Examines the liberal feminist assumptions that underpinned the proposals of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women with respect to unpaid labour in the home, notably the the nuclear-family household as well as capitalist social and economic relations.

The article reviews the book, "Patriarchy of the Wage: Notes on Marx, Gender and Feminism," by Silvia Federici.

Using a feminist political economy approach, contributors document the impact of current socio-economic policies on states, markets, households, and communities. Relying on impressive empirical research, they argue that women bear the costs of and responsibility for care-giving and show that the theoretical framework provided by feminist analyses of social reproduction not only corrects the gender-blindness of most economic theories but suggests an alternative that places care-giving at its centre. In this illuminating study, they challenge feminist scholars to re-engage with materialism and political economy to engage with feminism. -- Publisher's description

How the unaccounted costs of neo-liberal policies fall on Canadian women. Using a feminist political economy approach, contributors document the impact of current socio-economic policies on states, markets, households, and communities. Relying on impressive empirical research, they argue that women bear the costs of and responsibility for care-giving and show that the theoretical framework provided by feminist analyses of social reproduction not only corrects the gender-blindness of most economic theories but suggests an alternative that places care-giving at its centre. In this illuminating study, they challenge feminist scholars to re-engage with materialism and political economy to engage with feminism. --Publisher's description. Contents: Introduction: Social Reproduction and Feminist Political Economy / Kate Bezanson and Meg Luxton (pages 3-10) -- Feminist Political Economy in Canada and the Politics of Social Reproduction / Meg Luxton (pages 11-44) -- Social Reproduction and Canadian Federalism / Barbara Cameron (pages 45-74) -- Whose Social Reproduction? Transnational Motherhood and Challenges to Feminist Political Economy / Sedef Arat-Koç (pages 75-92) -- Bargaining for Collective Responsibility for Social Reproduction / Alice De Wolff (pages 93-116) -- Privatization: A Strategy for Eliminating Pay Equity in Health Care / Marjorie Griffin Cohen and Marcy Cohen (pages 117-144) -- Crisis Tendencies in Social Reproduction: The Case of Ontario’s Early Years Plan / Leah F. Vosko (pages 145-172) -- The Neo-liberal State and Social Reproduction: Gender and Household Insecurity in the Late 1990s / Kate Bezanson (pages 173-214) -- Someone to Watch over You: Gender, Class, and Social Reproduction / Susan Braedley (pages 215-230) -- Motherhood as a Class Act: The Many Ways in Which “Intensive Mothering” Is Entangled with Social Class / Bonnie Fox (pages 231-262) -- Friends, Neighbours, and Community: A Case Study of the Role of Informal Caregiving in Social Reproduction / Meg Luxton (pages 263-92 ).

Feminism's Fight explores and assesses feminist strategies to advance gender justice through Canadian federal policy from the 1970s to the present. It tells the crucial story of a transformation in how feminism has been treated by governments and asks how new ways of organizing and emerging alliances can advance a feminist agenda of social and economic equality. This timely collection examines the ideas that feminists have put forward in pursuit of the goal of equality and traces the shifting frameworks employed by governments in response. The authors evaluate changing government orientations through the 1970s to 2020, revealing the negative impact on women's lives and the challenges posed for feminists. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the sexism, misogyny, and related systemic inequalities that remain widespread. Yet it has also revived feminist mobilization and animated calls for a new and comprehensive equality agenda for Canada. Feminism's Fight asks two key questions: What are the lessons from feminist engagement with federal government policy over fifty years? And what kinds of transformative policy demands will achieve the feminist goal of social and economic equality?-- Publisher's description

[D]escribes the experiences of daily life for predominantly white, working class women and men during the period of "economic restructuring" begun in the 1980s. Luxton and Corman show how the shift from a pattern where women were full-time housewives and men were income earners, to one where women are increasingly income earners as well, is altering the experience of everyday life Based on a case study conducted from 1980 to 1996, of households where one person was employed at Stelco's manufacturing plant in Hamilton, Ontario, the book examines how working class families make a living by combining paid employment and unpaid domestic labour. During this period of government cutbacks the loss of secure employment for men (as the steel plant cut its labour force by about two-thirds), combined with women's increasing participation in the labour force, resulted in lower standards of living, reduced income, and the imposition of more unpaid work on family households. [The book] examines how growing insecurities undermined class politics while increasing gender, racial, and ethnic tensions. By focusing on the daily coping strategies of white working class women and men, the book shows the human face of changing gender, race, and class politics in Canada. --Publisher's description.

A close reading of the report of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada (RCSW 1970) makes visible its views on women’s organizing for social justice and strategies to this end. These issues have garnered little attention, but as this chapter shows, the report comments on the role of unions in Canada, the importance of demographic representation of women in positions of power, the lobbying work of professional women’s organizations, and the advocacy of the emerging community-based women’s movement. My focus is on the fndings of the RCSW ( 1970 ) on women and unions, and on union women’s organizing in recent decades. This examination is framed by four proposals for elaborating new feminist paradigms to promote justice for women. --Introduction