Buttons

Archival Materials

100 Women in Toronto
This is an undated button of two intertwined symbols of women.

2 Intertwined Women Symbols
This button is for the 20th anniversary reunion for Campus Community Co-operative Daycare in Toronto.

69-89: Alive and Kicking!! Campus Coop Reunion

A Date with Equality – April 17, 1985

A single rape violates all women
The button challenges the anti-abortion focus on the foetus and the lack of importance given to women's lives within the anti-abortion movement.

A Woman’s Life is a Human Life
Button with slogan "A Woman's Place is Everywhere"

A Woman’s Place is Everywhere
This Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) button is a declaration of support for women's growing role in the labour movement and in the workforce. It challenges the traditional view that women's place is "in the kitchen". Many unions developed similar buttons and slogans.

A Woman’s Place is in Her Union

A Woman’s Place is in Her Union
Undated CUC button in support of women in the union.

A Woman’s Place is in Her Union – CUC
Undated United Auto Workers button: "A Woman's Place is in Her Union."

A Woman’s Place is in Her Union – TUA/UAW
A button proclaiming that A Woman's Place is in the Front!

A Woman’s Place is in the Front
This is an undated button created by Canadian Union of Postal Workers in celebration of March 8th, International Women's Day.

A woman’s place is in the struggle: International Women’s Day March 8th (CUPW)
This undated button calls for the repeal of all abortion laws in Canada to ensure a woman's right to control her life.

A woman’s right to control her life: Repeal All Abortion Laws

A Woman’s Place is in Her Union

A Woman’s Place Is In Her Union – OFL

A womb of one’s own…A woman’s right to choose
This is a button asserting a woman's personal right to decide about abortion

Abortion is a Personal Decision
A button expressing support for a woman's right to choose abortion.

Abortion is a Woman’s Choice
This button was created by Action Day Care in the 1980s and highlights the need to create both more and better quality daycare.

Action Day Care – More Daycare, Better Daycare

Adam was a rough draft

Alderwoman
This button celebrates Algoma and Manitoulin Native Women - Spirit of the 80's.

Algoma and Manitoulin Native Women – Spirit of the 80’s

Alter Eros

Amazon
Anna Mae Aquash, a Mi'kmaq from Nova Scotia, was born 1945. Aquash was an activist with the the American Indian Movement and involved in a number of protests in the early 1970s in the United States. She was murdered in 1976 on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

Anna Mae Aquash: Warrior-Mother – Casualty of the War Against Indigenous Peoples
This button is an example of men starting to speak up as allies to end violence against women.

Another Man Against Violence Against Women
A generic button for women that declares her support for economic justice.

Another Woman for Economic Justice
This button was a play on a well-known and often-quoted phrase calling on citizens to stand up and contribute to building a better society.

Ask not what a lesbian can do for you, but what you can do for a lesbian
Audrey McLaughlin was elected leader of the federal New Democratic Party in 1989, becoming the first female leader of a political party represented in the House of Commons of Canada. She continued as leader until 1995. This button with the slogan "Leadership '89: A New Voice, A New Choice/Chefferie '89: une nouvelle voix, un nouveau choix" is from her leadership campaign.

Audrey – Leadership ’89/Chefferie ’89
In December 1989, Audrey McLaughlin was elected leader of the New Democratic Party and became the first woman to lead a national party in Canada. She led the NDP until 1995.

Audrey McLaughlin for Prime Minister

aujourd’hui une maison, ce soir la rue
This undated button is in support of Union of Bank Employees on strike at the Bank of Commerce.

Bank Busters – Union of Bank Employees On Strike at the Commerce
A lawyer and social activist, Barbara Hall provided legal aid for gay men arrested in the Operation Soap bathhouse raids and ran for the New Democratic Party in the 1985 Ontario election, losing to Liberal Ian Scott. Later that year, she won a seat on Toronto City Council and in 1994 was elected as Mayor of the pre-amalgamation City of Toronto. During her tenure, she was the first mayor of Toronto to march in the Pride Parade. In 1997, she lost the election to be first Mayor of the new mega-city to Mel Lastman. In 2005, she became head of the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

Barbara Hall – Mayor for all the people
A lawyer and social activist, Barbara Hall was elected as Mayor of the pre-amalgamation City of Toronto in 1994, but in 1997, lost the election to Mel Lastman, the first Mayor of the new mega-city.

Barbara Hall: Mayor ~ for the City

Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic
The Company of Sirens was a social action, feminist theatre company. Its mandate was to develop new productions which inspired social change and alternative action for women.

Be a Siren Scream
Undated button that says "Behind These Lips Lies a Real Woman"

Behind These Lips Lies A Real Woman
This pin responded to the ongoing acts of physical violence, intimidation, and harassment against lesbians and gays, noting that being lesbian and gay is not a crime while "bashing" is.

Being Lesbian or Gay is Not a Crime – Bashing Is

better gay than grumpy
400 women attended this 3 day conference held at the University of Toronto. Mama Quilla II played at the dance, which was interrupted by the police who were wrongly charging the conference organizers with a liquor infraction.

Bi-national Lesbian Conference/Conference lesbienne bi-nationale – Toronto May 19-21 Mai 1979

BIOLOGY is not DESTINY

Booksellers against Mike Harris
This is a solidarity button for the women on a six-month strike against Eaton's in 1984-1985, fighting for decent wages and working conditions. The strike received a lot of support from the labour movement, the feminist movement, and the arts and faith communities.

Boycott Eaton’s

Boycott Nestlé
"Bread & Roses I.W.D. March 8, 1986"

Bread & Roses – IWD March 8 1986
This undated button features Rosa Luxemburg, the Marxist and revolutionary socialist activist who co-founded the Spartacus League in Germany. Following World War I, she and fellow leader Karl Liebknecht were captured and executed during the Spartacist uprising of January 1919.

Bread and Roses – Rosa Luxemburg
The slogan raises the need for attention to research into breast cancer and treatments.

Breast Cancer – We Are Dying for a Cure!

Build OPSEU – A Union Undivided – Build OPSEU Women’s Caucus
This International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) button calls on people to buy Canadian-made clothing and save jobs.

Buy Canadian – Save Our Jobs (ILGWU)
The button distributed by the CARAL supported a woman's right to choose.

C.A.R.A.L. – Freedom of Choice on Abortion
This undated button pokes fun at "ladies".

C.L.A.W. Canadian Ladies Against Women

Call me Ms., not Mrs. Him

Caution: Sexism may be Hazardous to your Health
This undated button of the Canadian Auto Workers highlights the role of unions in supporting women and women in building their unions.

CAW/TCA Canada: Women Building Union Building Women
The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) created this button to celebrate March 8th International Women's Day. The button portrays the diversity and unity of women members across the PSAC.

Celebrate March 8th International Women’s Day – Public Service Alliance of Canada
This is the French version of the button created by Sudbury Women’s Centre for Sudbury’s centennial celebration in 1983. It was part of their response to the official logo which featured two miners to honour the role of working men in building the community, and was aimed at highlighting the significant, but largely unpaid and invisible roles played by women. The Sudbury Women’s Centre group claimed Mother’s Day for an event that would feature women’s contributions to Sudbury’s social history. The project, which included a large collection of photos and interviews, attracted a lot of interest. More than 450 people attended the Miners Mother’s Day Tea itself.

Chaque Mineur Avait Une Mère: Sudbury 1883-1983
Undated button supporting childcare.

Childcare. Kids are worth it.
This button expresses Lesbian support for the reproductive justice movement.

Choice

Choice – Abortion rights are here to stay. We’re never going back!
Button distributed by the Ontario Coalition for Abortion Clinics to show support for the legalization of free-standing abortion clinics.

Choice: Legalize Free-Standing Abortion Clinics

Choice: No New Abortion Law

Cinderella Married for Money 
Button created by the Ontario Coalition for Abortion Clinics

Co-conspirators for Choice
This button celebrating International Women's Day was produced by the Canadian Employment and Immigration Union (CEIU) and highlights the strength of feminist and labour solidarity and collective action.

Collective Action Collective Strength – International Women’s Day (CEIU)
This French language button was created for the Ad Hoc Women and the Constitution Conference held in Ottawa on February 14, 1981, during the debate over the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. About 1,300 women from across the country attended. The event was organized by feminist groups following the federal government’s cancellation of a constitutional conference planned by the Advisory Council on the Status of Women. The ad hoc conference called for a stronger equality-rights clause and a specific guarantee of equal rights between men and women. Both reforms were included in the final Charter.

Conférence Constitution. Ottawa – Feb 14 1981
This is a solidarity button against violence against women (French).

contre la violence faite aux femmes – solidarité
Undated button by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 1230 calling for support of library workers at the University of Toronto.

CUPE 1230: Support library workers – fight cutbacks
This button advocates for a feminist dean for Toronto's Osgoode Hall Law School in 1987.

Dare to Dream of a Feminist Dean – Osgoode Hall 1987
The DisAbled Women's Network is a feminist not-for-profit organization initiated in 1985 whose purpose has been to bring attention to the range of issues including physical accessibility, facing women with disabilities.

DAWN DisAbled Women’s Network
Undated Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) button commemorating December 6th Day of Mourning.

December 6th. Mourn. Organize. Change. Hope (CUPW)

Defeat the Fetus Fetishists
This image of 'desire' is from the 1983 Women's Perspective exhibit at the Partisan Gallery in Toronto.

Desire from Women’s Perspective
This undated button supported lesbian and gay activism in the 1980s.

Doing It! Lesbian and Gay Liberation in the ’80s
Don't Lose the Right to Choose, October 14, 1989

Don’t Lose the Right to Choose
Organized by Lesbians Against the Right, this march drew 300 women chanting their way down Yonge Street. "Look over here, look over there, lesbians are everywhere" and "We are the D-Y-K-E-S" reverberated through the city streets. The Dykes in the Streets march stopped at various Lesbian Landmarks around the downtown area. In the evening, they danced.

Dykes in the Streets
This a button to elect Winnie Ng, a long-time labour, anti-racist, and social justice activist running in 1993 for the federal New Democratic Party in the Toronto riding Trinity Spadina.

Elect Winnie Ng – Trinity Spadina Federal NDP
Emily Carr's words about old women are featured on this button.

Emily Carr
A button showing support for the Emily Stowe Shelter for Women and Children. The Scarborough emergency shelter for women escaping violence was named after the first woman doctor to practice in Canada.

Emily Stowe Shelter for Women

Employment Equity – Canadian Union of Public Employees
Undated button by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE/SCEP) in support of employment equity in Ontario.

Employment Equity for a better Ontario – CUPE/SCEP
This declaration of solidarity to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land was created by Women Against the Occupation in Ottawa, and shows a woman symbol and fist superimposed on the Palestinian flag.

End the Occupation Now! WAO
Canadian Auto Workers button to commemorate Dec. 6 and calling for an end to violence against women and our daughters.

End violence for our daughters: CAW/TCA
Undated Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) calling for equal opportunities for women.

Equal Opportunities (CUPE)
The campaign to win equal pay for work of equal value gathered widespread support during the 1970s and 80s. This button shows solidarity with that fight.

Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value

Equal Pay is Fair Pay
The button demands immediate action on equal pay for women. The campaign won strong support in both the feminist and labour movements.

Equal Pay Now!

EQUALITY – Newfoundland Association of Public Employees
This undated button calls for the repeal of abortion laws so that every mother is a willing mother and every child a wanted child.

Every Mother a Willing Mother; Every Child a Wanted Child – Repeal anti-abortion laws
The slogan highlights the false distinction between a woman employed in the paid workforce and the unpaid labour of women in the family

Every mother is a working mother

Fairy godmothers against Mike Harris
A button in support of family benefits reform.

Family Benefits Work Group: Agitate, Educate, Organize
Feminism to the max!

Feminism to the max!
The button is a declaration of solidarity in the fight against anti-semitism.

Feminist Against Anti-Semitism
The Feminist Party of Canada was launched in 1979 with the aim of establishing a Women's Party that welcomed the involvement of diverse women. The goal was to not just to participate in electoral politics, but to transform them along feminist lines.

Feminist Party of Canada
This button supports Broadside, a Canadian feminist newspaper published in Toronto between 1979 and 1989.

feminists are everywhere: they read Broadside
This button features the slogan "Femmes deboutte!" and the women's liberation symbol.

Femmes deboutte!
Undated feminist button

fffff
Undated button calling for fight back and Gay self defense.

fight back! Gay Self Defense

Fight The Right
The Fight the Right Festival held in Toronto on May 1, 1982 was part of the organizing done to protest a rising tide of right-ing morality and ongoing police harassment and violence against gays and lesbians.

Fight the Right Festival – May 1, 1982
This button shows solidarity for the fight against racism, linking struggles around the world from Toronto to South Africa. In Toronto, International Women's Day 1986 also focused on the connections, organizing around the slogan, "Women Say No to Racism - From Toronto to South Africa'.

Fighting Racism – From Soweto to Toronto

Fleck: It’s Everyone’s Fight!
The slogan "Free and Female" is the text of this button.

Free and Female
Many feminists and feminist groups opposed the free trade deal with the United States. This button is one example of the issues highlighted in this debate.

Free Day Care not Free Trade
This button shows solidarity with the fight to end the occupation and free Palestine, saying it is time for peace and time for women.

Free Palestine – Time for Peace; Time for Women – Occupation Must End!
The South African Women's Day Committee formed in 1986 to recognize the role of women in the long struggle against apartheid in South Africa and celebrate the 30th anniversary of the women's march on Pretoria in 1956. It was part of a growing movement calling for international condemnation and increased pressure to end the South African apartheid regime.

Free South African Political Prisoners – South African Women’s Day Committee
Interval House was founded in 1973 by a feminist collective and is Canada’s first centre for women survivors of intimate partner violence.

Friend of Interval House
"Gay is what we make it". Undated button supporting LGBTQ activism.

Gay is What We Make it

God Is Coming and Is She Pissed
Undated button calling for good daycare.

good daycare!

Good Enough to Work … Good Enough to Unionize

Hanukkah
This button represents solidarity with the thousands of women who worked as operators Bell Canada and endured very poor pay and working conditions. The unionization of Bell Canada operators by the Communications Workers was a huge victory for working women and the labour movement.

Help Crack Bell
The December 6th Fund was created as a memorial to the fourteen women murdered on December 6, 1989 at L'Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal. It provides interest free loans to women fleeing abuse.

Help women build lives free from violence – The December 6th Fund
Button distributed by CUPE Locals 1806, 1582 and 2758 during the strike at the Toronto Metro Reference Library in 1984.

Hi Tech Goodbye Jobs – Metro Toronto Library Workers
The button's slogan is a challenge to the prevailing social pressure for girls and women to be thin.

How Dare You Presume I’d Rather Be Thin

I am a F.A.K.E. Woman

I Am a Pseudo Feminist in Social Work
The Congress of Canadian Women began in the 1950s. As an organization, it was primarily concerned with peace issues, children's rights, poverty and discrimination.

I am a Woman for Peace – Congress of Canadian Women

I am an advocate for women

I am the Northern Woman

I Like Older Women

I Love Lesbian Tongues
The button was created in 1990 to protest cuts to funding of national women's organizations and local women's centres through the Secretary of State Women's Program.

I Slept at Secretary of State for $1.6 M – Where’s the Money?

I Suffer from P.M.S. – Putting Up With Men’s Shit!

I Support Saskatchewan Women
This button shows a pink triangle together with the words "I will survive".

I will survive
Humourous button by Ladies Against Women.

I’d Rather Be Ironing!
This button was created by Organized Working Women to mark the Montreal Massacre of December 6th 1989.

I’m proud to be a Feminist – Dec.6 Montreal

I.W.Y. women in the arts (1975)

If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution

If They Want You to File, Become a Machinist

If We Can Send One Man to the Moon Why Not Send Them All?
This button commemorates the murder of 14 women, just because they were women, at L'École Polytechnique in Montreal on December 6, 1989. Although many other buttons have been designed by various groups, this button is one of the most well-recognized and worn.

In commemoration of the 14 women killed in Montreal, December 6, 1989/ En commémoration des femmes assassinées à Montreal le 6 decembre 1989
This button shows solidarity with the resistance movement in El Salvador. Many feminist activists were also involved in international solidarity work.

In Solidarity Canadian Workers Salvadorean Workers
This undated button shows two women in a pink triangle embracing, together with the words "international lesbian conspiracy."

international lesbian conspiracy
This is a button produced for the Toronto International Women's Day march and celebrations in 1978.

International Women’s Day 1978 (Toronto)
"Jobs and Rights for Women" is the theme of this button for the Toronto International Women's Day March and Rally in 1979.

International Women’s Day 1979 (Toronto) – Jobs and Rights for Women
The theme of this button for the 1981 International Women's Day March and Rally in Toronto is Women Unite!

International Women’s Day 1981 (Toronto) – Women Unite
This button was created for the 1983 International Women's Day Rally and March in Toronto.

International Women’s Day 1983 (Toronto)
This button for International Women's Day 1983 features the slogan "Hard Times Won't Stop Us".

International Women’s Day 1983 – Hard Times Won’t Stop Us
The Rise Up button was created by the March 8th Coalition in Toronto for International Women's Day 1984.

International Women’s Day 1984 (Toronto) – Rise Up!
This is a button for International Women's Day in 1985.

International Women’s Day 1985
The theme of this button for the 1985 International Women's Day March and Rally in Toronto is Still Ain't Satisfied!

International Women’s Day 1985 (Toronto) – Still Ain’t Satisfied
For the first time, International Women's Day 1986 focused on women's opposition to racism at home and internationally.

International Women’s Day 1986 (Toronto) – From Toronto to South Africa: Women Say No! to Racism
This is a button for International Women's Day in 1987.

International Women’s Day 1987
In 1987, the March 8th Coalition chose Fighting Racism and Sexism Together as the central theme for International Women's Day in Toronto.

International Women’s Day 1987 (Toronto) – Fighting Racism and Sexism Together
The Toronto International Women's Day March in 1988 calls for women to unite to fight against racism, sexism and economic inequality.

International Women’s Day 1988 (Toronto) – Women Unite to Fight Racism, Sexism, Economic Inequality
The theme for International Women's Day 1990 in Toronto was "Fight the Attacks - No Turning Back" which highlighted women's resistance to any attacks on the gains that had been achieved for women's equality.

International Women’s Day 1990 (Toronto) – Fight the Attacks – No Turning Back!
"Oka to the Gulf. Make the links" is the theme of this button for the 1991 International Women's Day March and Rally in Toronto. It refers to the Gulf War of 1990-91 and to the struggle for Indigenous rights in Oka, Quebec in 1990. It highlights the role of the military and connects militarism, colonialism and imperialism here at home and internationally.

International Women’s Day 1991 (Toronto) – From Oka to the Gulf!
"No Time to Stop" is featured on this button for International Women's Day 1993.

International Women’s Day 1993 – No Time to Stop
Button designed for the Toronto 1980 International Women's Day March organized around the theme "Bread and Roses for the 80s"

International Women’s Day 1980 (Toronto) – Bread and Roses in the 80’s
Button was used for the 1982 International Women's Day March in Toronto. The image of the woman waving a large flag links International Women's Day to early socialist celebrations.

International Women’s Day 1982 (Toronto)
International Women's Day 1989 in Toronto was organized around the theme "Women Against Poverty."

International Women’s Day 1989 (Toronto) – Women Against Poverty

International Women’s Day 1990 – Raging, Resisting, Rejoicing
The Toronto International Women’s Day March in 1992 was organized around the theme “Healing, Reclaiming” and focused on the struggles of Indigenous women, their families and communities.

International Women’s Day 1992 (Toronto) – Healing, Reclaiming

Intertwined Same Sex Gender Symbols
Undated button protesting women being" left out in the cold" by the pension fund.

It’s Cold Out Here – Pension Fund Profits and Women
Created by the Jewish Women's Committee to End the Occupation in Toronto, these buttons in both English and Hebrew represented a hand saying stop, we are against the occupation of Palestinian land. These buttons were worn prominently at the weekly vigils at the Israeli Consulate and were the subject of an attempted boycott of the Toronto Women's Bookstore, that sold them.

Jewish Women against the Occupation
On August 26, 1979 Albert Johnson, a 35-year-old Jamaican Canadian, was shot dead in his home. He was known to have mental health struggles. Immediately, the Black community organized. The Black Action Defense Committee (BADC) along with over 30 community organizations mobilized 2,000 people to march from Oakwood/Vaughn to 13th division headquarters to protest Johnson's murder. Again on October 14, 1979, 1000 people protested at Toronto City Hall. The Albert Johnson Committee Against Police Brutality had three demands: 1. They demanded that the two police officers be charged with murder instead of manslaughter. 2. They requested that Toronto police provide full compensation to Johnson's wife and four children. 3. They demanded the Province of Ontario and Attorney-General Roy McMurty establish an independent civilian review board for complaints against the police. November, 1980, both police officers, Cargnelli and Inglis, were acquitted of manslaughter charges. BADC continued to protest and finally in 1988, Toronto police made a secret settlement in court after the Johnson family filed a civil lawsuit against them. The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) was created in 1990 as a way to increase police accountability in the investigation of civilian murders. Despite the historic and ongoing limitations of the SIU, the reform was a victory for the Black community because it was an acknowledgement that anti-Black racism and police brutality are systemic problems that require institutional reform. In a related protest, on February 20, 1981, Lemona Johnson, Albert's widow, spoke outside 52 division headquarter at a massive protest against the vicious police attack on the city's gay bath houses just two weeks earlier. She, and others, drew the parallels between police violence against the Black community and the gay community.

Justice for Albert Johnson
Michael Wade Lawson, a 17 year old Black man was shot and killed by Peel police in 1988. The two cops charged were later acquitted, which caused growing community protest over the pattern of racist police brutality and the failure to condemn and clean up racism within the police forces. In Toronto, the Black Women's Collective and the Congress of Black Women of Canada were actively involved in campaigning against racist and anti-black violence. Other feminist and social justice groups also supported this work.

Justice for Michael Wade Lawson
The button calls for justice for Pauline Au and an end to sexual harassment. After experiencing sexual harassment that started in the early 1990s, Pauline brought a charge against the hospital where she worked to the Ontario Labour Relations Board in 1997.

Justice for Pauline Au – Stop Sexual Harassment
Kay Macpherson, the well-known feminist, pacifist, and political activist, ran as a New Democratic Party candidate in several federal elections.

Kay MacPherson – NDP
This button marks the publication of Kay Macpherson's memoir When in Doubt, Do Both. Macpherson is a respected feminist, pacifist, and political activist with a long history of working for women's rights and organizing for social justice through organizations such as the Voice of Women, the Action Committee on the Status of Women, and Women for Political Action.

Kay Macpherson – When in Doubt, Do Both!
This button was part of the Toronto District Council of the Canadian Union of Public Employees campaign against privatization of public services. This campaign was of concern to women, as many of these services involved women, both as workers and as people who were receiving these services. Keeping them public would mean a greater possibility of maintaining wages and benefits, as well as the quality of the services.

Keep it PUBLIC
This is an Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care (OCBCC) button in support of non-profit daycare.

Kids are not for profit
"Kids, not cash" was a provincial campaign to improve the quality of child care and ensure it was non-profit. The campaign was organized jointly by the Ontario Coalition for Better Day Care and the Ontario Federation of Labour.

kids, not cash – Non Profit Child Care
Lesbian/Lesbienne was a short-lived Pan-Canadian newsletter that grew out of the Bi-National Lesbian Conference held in Toronto in May 1979.

L/L (Lesbian/Lesbienne)
This undated button was created by the SEIC Comité des Femmes for International Women's Day.

Les Femmes prennent du terrain – La Journée Internationale de la Femme (SEIC)
This button supports Lesbian and Gay Pride Day in 1983 in Toronto.

Lesbian & Gay Pride Day ’83
This was the first Lesbian and Gay Pride Day in Toronto that coincided with the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York City, considered one of the sparks for the lesbian and gay liberation movement. This Pride was fuelled by anger at the recent bathhouse raids in which over 300 gay men were arrested, and by defiance in response to the rising tide of right-wing bigotry.

Lesbian & Gay Pride Day – 28 June 1981 – Toronto

Lesbian & Gay Pride Day ’82
Irises in bloom decorate the button for British Columbia's Lesbian Celebration in 1983.

Lesbian Celebration – May ’83 BC
This 1985 button was created by the Lesbian and Gay Pride Committee to specifically address the independent power of lesbians in the movement.

Lesbian Power Toronto ’85 – Coming Together
"Lesbians and friends: Quebec, 1989 Canadian Women's Studies Association"

Lesbians & Friends – Canadian Women’s Studies Association (Quebec 1989)

Lesbians Against Racism
The Simon Nkoli Anti-Apartheid Committee (SNAAC) was formed in Toronto in the mid-80s. The SNAAC was active on anti-apartheid work within the LGBT community in Toronto and on anti-homophobia organizing within the anti-apartheid movement. Nkoli was a South African gay anti-apartheid activist, working with the Congress of South African Students (COSAS) and with the United Democratic Front. In 1984, he was arrested as one of the Delmas 22 when South African police attempted to crush ongoing protests against rent hikes. In 1983, Nkoli joined the Gay Association of South Africa, which was predominantly white and later formed the Saturday Group, the first black gay group in Africa.

Lesbians and Gays Against Apartheid
Lesbians of Colour organized in Toronto in 1984 to have a voice within the different communities that they were allied with.

Lesbians of Colour
This undated button puts a clever twist on the revolutionary slogan, "Workers unite in armed struggle".

Lesbians Unite in Armed Snuggle

Local 23-25 ILGWU
This undated button by Amnesty International button supports human rights for all regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.

Love is a basic human right
This button is part of the campaign to challenge heterosexist, traditional views and redefine what makes a family.

love makes a family
This International Ladies Garment Workers' Union button supports union=made and made-in-Canada clothing.

Made in Canada: Union Made – ILGWU Canada

Make That Move – Fight Racism: Dykes Against Racism Everywhere

March 8 mars

March 8 Mars CLC – CTC

March 8th Sisters Unite! for progress and security – CUPW

Marching for Women’s Lives! Full Access to Free Abortion
This undated button in support of the Matriarchy features a double-bladed battle axe (labrys) associated with ancient matriarchal societies, such as the Amazons.

Matriarchy Matriarchy

May the Goddess Bless You!

McGill Women’s Union
This is an undated button for the McMaster University Women's Centre.

McMaster Women’s Centre
The White Ribbon campaign was founded in 1991. Since then men have worn white ribbons in the days leading up to December 6th, the anniversary of the Montreal Massacre as a pledge to work against violence against women.

Men Against Violence Against Women

Men of Quality Aren’t Threatened by Women Seeking Equality
Men of quality respect Women's Equality: Button

Men of Quality Respect Women’s Equality
This is a CUPE Local 1582 button from the 1984 strike at the Toronto Metro Reference Library.

Metro Library – Keep it user friendly
The micro-chip revolution emerged as an important issue for women during the 1970s. There was growing concern about job loss, de-skilling, and speed-up in job sectors traditionally held by women.

Micro-Chips May Cause Job Decay
Mini-Skools workers, members of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), went on strike for higher wages in October 1982. Mini-Skools is the Canadian division of U.S. corporation Kinder-Care, which ran 700 for-profit day care centres in the U.S. at the time of the strike. Solidarity for the strikers came from feminist, labour, and child care activists.

Mini-Skools Pays Mini-Wages
Undated feminist button: "moan, groan, grumble, bitch, complain"

moan groan grumble bitch complain
A 1982 button from Montreal with an image showing a woman's face embedded in a map of the world.

Montréal Femme (1982)
This button supports the right of a woman to make choices about birth control and abortion, and to control whether and when she becomes a mother.

Motherhood by Choice Not Chance
This is an undated humorous button on motherhood.

Motherhood self-destructs in 20 years
Mama Quilla II was a Toronto-based women's rock band from 1977-1982. The band headlined at the Bi-National Lesbian Conference in 1979. A revised line-up of musicians formed The Parachute Club in 1982.

MQ (Mama Quilla) II
The Ms. for M.P button supported a push to elect more women into government.

Ms. for M.P.
Indigenous women have played a significant role in the struggle for recognition as Founding Nations and to protect their lands and culture.

Native Canadians: A Distinct Society – The Original Founding Nations of this Land
This button was created by women of the New Democratic Party.

NDP Women
This button was produced by Gay and Lesbians Against the Right Everywhere (GLARE) which organized the June 1981 Lesbian and Gay Pride march in Toronto, building on the mass resistance to the gay bathhouse raids earlier that year. The rally and march were focused on celebrating lesbian and gay lives and resisting a rising tide of right-wing bigotry, ongoing police violence, lesbian mothers losing custody of their children, firings of lesbian and gay workers, and censorship in the mainstream media. GLARE also organized against the visit of Anita Bryant to Toronto and for inclusive, anti-homophobia and gay-positive education at the Toronto Board of Education.

Never Again – Fight Back (Gays & Lesbians Against the Right Everywhere)
This button with the picture of a coat hanger and the slogan "Never again! Plus jamais!" calls for an end to back alley abortions through legalization.

Never Again! Plus Jamais!
This Wages for Housework button supports the campaign to stop cutbacks to the SEEK (Search for Education, Elevation and Knowledge) programme at the City of New York University. SEEK provided financial support to Third-World students, and especially women. The campaign also targeted efforts by social services to cut women off welfare supports.

No Cuts, Just Bucks – Black Women for Wages for Housework
This button protests the persistent social pressure on women to diet and the idea they should aspire to be thin.

No Dieting
"No Justice, No Peace" was the slogan of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) strike in 1996. OPSEU was one of many unions to mobilize against the Harris government's so-call "Common Sense" revolution, which drastically downsized government, decimated public programmes, and cut equity and social justice initiatives. These years had a significant impact on women and other equality-seeking groups.

No Justice No Peace
This "No Means No!" button was created by the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre. Over the years, "No means No" campaigns have challenged rape culture and raised awareness of sexual assault and dating violence.

No means no!
"No Means No" campaigns raised awareness of rape and sexual assault and a women's right to refuse consent.

No Means No!
During the 1978-79 Sudbury Inco Miners’ Strike by the Steelworkers, wives organized to build community support and show strong solidarity. This button was part of that successful campaign. The Wives Support Committee also sent representatives to march in the Toronto International Women’s Day March of 1980.

No More Nickels, No More Dimes – Wives Supporting 1005 Strikers
This is a button protesting the bathhouse raids carried out by the Metropolitan Toronto Police on February 5, 1981 that resulted in the arrest of just under 300 men. These raids and the consequent rallies organized in protest are considered a turning point in the organizing for LGBTQ+ rights in Canada.

No More Shit! Toronto, 6 Feb 81
Button in opposition to passing in a new abortion law following the 1988 Supreme Court decision in the Morgentaler case that Canada's abortion law was unconstitutional.

No New Abortion Law – Choice
After the Supreme Court of Canada struck down Canada's abortion law in 1988, the choice movement pushed for no new laws and instead worked on broadening access to abortion.

No New Abortion Law – Choice, Choice, Choice

No Sexual Harassment
No to Violence button produced by Federation of Women Teachers' Associations of Ontario (FWTAO)

No To Violence: Federation of Women Teachers’ Associations of Ontario

No, Thanks! Addicted Women’s Self-Help Network
Founded in the early 1980s, the NOTSO Amazon Softball League has brought together lesbians, queer positive women, and trans people of all abilities to play recreational softball in a positive and fun environment.

not so amazon – 1985 Softball League
This is undated French-language button against pornography.

nous refusons porno
Undated button of the Food and Service Workers of Canada (FASWOC). FASWOC represented the cleaners, almost all Portuguese immigrant women, who went on strike at the First Canadian Place in Toronto in 1984. After six weeks, the strike ended in victory.

O povo unido, jamais será vencido! F.A.S.W.O.C
This button highlights solidarity with Indigenous people to protect a sacred burial ground of the Mohawk people of Kanehsatake in Oka, Quebec. The town proposed the expansion of a golf course and the people of Kanehsatake rose up in defense of their ancestral lands, facing off against government officials, the police, and the Canadian Army for 78 days.

Oka is All of Us
Indigenous people at Kanehsatake fought back in 1990 after a sacred burial ground was proposed for a golf course in the town of Oka, Quebec. This button recognizes the prominent role that Indigenous women played in that struggle as well as the need to de-colonize Canada.

OKAnada

Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL): Ontario can work!
This Ontario Federation of Labour button supports of equal pay for work of equal value.

Ontario Federation of Labour – Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value
Undated Ontario Women's Action Coalition (OWAC) button with slogan "I support the Women's Movement."

Ontario Women’s Action Coalition: I support the Women’s Movement
This button from the 1982 Organized Working Women Conference features the slogan "Women for Unions, Unions for Women".

Organized Working Women (OWW): Women for Unions – Unions for Women
This button was produced by Organized Working Women (OWW) during the free trade debate in 1988.

Organized Working Women Say No! Free Trade is Rambo Economics
Undated button with photo of Nellie McClung.

Our Nell

Our Union is For All of Us! OPSEU Women’s Caucus
This is an undated button for International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) drive to organize women working in clothing sweatshops.

out of the sweatshops – ILGWU Garment Workers Unite!

P4Women – Women Working with Women

Patriarchy The Great Phallusy

pay equity….what’s the key?
This button rewords a traditional Christmas message.

Peace on Earth …. Good Will Toward WOMEN
The clenched, raised fist combined with a Venus symbol represents Feminism. It is an iconic symbol of the women's liberation movement.

Pink Venus and Fist

Please don’t shop at Eaton’s
Campaigns for abortion rights in Canada focused on repealing the laws which criminalized and limited access to abortioA key demand in the campaigns for abortion rights in Canada called for repealing laws which criminalized and limited access.

Repeal Abortion Laws
This undated button by unknown source calls for resisting violence, revolting against oppression, and reclaiming freedom.

Resist Violence – Revolt Oppression – Reclaim Freedom
Rosemary Brown became the first Black woman in a provincial legislature when she ran for the NDP and was elected to represent Vancouver-Burrard in British Columbia in 1972. In 1975 she ran for the federal leadership of the NDP against Ed Broadbent, coming in a close second.

Rosemary Brown – NDP leader

Save the Nursing Team
The Service Office Retail Workers Union Canada (SORWUC) was created to organize workers in predominantly female job sectors, especially the retail, bank, and service industries, traditionally ignored by unions. It was established on the principle of working women organizing and controlling their own unions.

Service Office Retail Workers Union Canada (SORWUC) – A Union for Working Women

Sexism is a Social Disease
Button for International Women's Day 1989

Shifting the Weight of the World – March 11, 1989 – International Women’s Day
"Sisters in Struggle - Building a Global Movement" was a Black History Month event organized by the Black Women's Collective and sponsored by a wide range of organizations. The featured keynote speaker for the February 1988 forum was Angela Davis. Panellists included Winnie Ng, Marlene Green, Carmencita Hernandez, and Susan Numzana.

Sisters in Struggle: Building a Global Movement – February 26, 1988
Undated button in solidarity with the women of El Salvador.

Solidarité avec les femmes du Salvador
This button was created by the Canadian Labour Congress/Congrès du Travail du Canada (CLC-CTC) to show labour solidarity with LGBTQ+ activism and union members.

Solidarité Pride Fierté – Canadian Labour Congress/ Congrès du Travail du Canada

Solidarity
The Toronto-based South African Women's Day Committee organized a rally on August 9 1986 to mark the 30th anniversary of South African Women's Day. On that date in 1956, 20,000 women of all races from across South Africa came together and marched to Pretoria to protest the issuing of the passbook to African women. It was one of the most memorable demonstrations in the history of the South African fight against apartheid. The 1986 commemoration also recognized the contributions, courage and determination of South African women over years of struggle for a just society. Solidarity with the women of South Africa was also part of the Toronto 1986 International Women's Day theme "Women Say No to Racism".

South Africa Women’s Day: Aug. 9, 1956-1986 30th Anniversary
The button urges people to speak up and show their support for choice on abortion.

Speak Out for Choice on Abortion

Sport for All 1982
The art show Still Sane hit the Vancouver art scene in 1984. It told the story of Sheila Gilhooly's entrapment within the phychiatric system in the late 60s and early 70s, when homosexuality was still a category in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual and sexism was rife in the profession. Twelve months later the book Still Sane rolled off the presses of the local feminist publisher Press Gang, bringing the show's compelling mix of feminist, lesbian and mad politics to a wider audience.

Still Sane

Stop Racism at home and abroad
This British Columbia Federation of Women button brought women together with the demand to Stop Rape.

Stop Rape – Women Against Rape: B.C. Federation of Women
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) created this button calling for an end to sexual harassment.

Stop Sexual Harassment (NUPGE)
This button is one of many worn by women to raise awareness of sexual violence and demanding that it be stopped.

Stop Violence Against Women
The Women's Committee of the Canada Employment and Immigration Union (CEIU) promoted the importance of union involvement by women.

Strong Women Strong Union – C.E.I.U. Women’s Committee
Button produced by Sudbury Women Miners highlights the need for childcare.

Sudbury Can’t Work Without Child Care

Support Day Care Now
This is a button in support of the Metro Toronto Library Workers, members of CUPE Locals 1582, 1806, and 2758, during their tough negotiations and strike in the fall of 1984.

Support Library Workers: CUPE Locals 1582-1806-2758
In the 1970s, despite a long standing dispute with the Lubicon Cree over land rights, the Alberta government leased areas of their traditional lands for resource exploration and development. This has had severely destructive effects on the natural environment and the Lubicon people, their culture and way of life. Indigenous women have deeply impacted by and also part of the long struggle for survival.

Support the Last Stand of the Lubicon!
Button in support of the Republican women imprisoned in Armagh who protested alongside male Republican prisoners during the Northern Ireland conflict. In 1980, the women took part in a “No Wash” protest after being beaten by riot squads following a commemoration held for a an woman active in the struggle who was killed. Later, a number joined the 1980 Hunger Strike. The brutal treatment of the women prisoners and barbaric prison conditions generated support and solidarity from many feminists, including backing for the demand for political status.

Support the Women in Armagh
The campaign for women's reproductive choice included demands for the recognition of midwives and greater control about decisions regarding more natural birthing alternatives.

Support Your Local Midwife
The Canadian Organization for the Rights of Prostitutes (CORPS) supported the decriminalization of prostitution and challenged negative stereotypes about sex work.

Support your local prostitutes’ rights (CORPRL & CORPS)

Take Back the Night
"Take Back the Night" Button created by the Sudbury Rape Crisis Centre in 1989.

Take Back the Night – Sudbury Rape Crisis Centre

Technology Yes! Takeaways No!

The best man for a job may be a woman
This is a button celebrating the 1985 Canadian Women's Festival / Le Festival des Femmes Canadiennes

The Canadian Women’s Festival ’85/ Le Festival des Femmes Canadiennes
The Company of Sirens is a social action, feminist theatre company founded in 1986. Its mandate is to develop new productions to inspire social change and has created works addressing issues such as sexual harassment, day care, racism, pay equity and women and work.

The Company of Sirens
A button proclaiming the presence and power of feminist organizing for change.

The Goddess is here and SHE is ORGANIZING
This Ontario Coalition for Better Daycare button calls on women to demand more and better child care.

The hand that rocks the cradle needs to rock the boat!
This is a solidarity button for workers at the Commerce and Graham Cable seeking a first contract. This followed earlier efforts to unionize workers, also mostly women, at Radio Shack, Blue Cross, and Irwin Toy.

The Right to a Union at the Commerce and Graham Cable – No More Radio Shack, Blue Cross, Irwin Toy!

THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL FEMINIST BOOK FAIR – OSLO – 1986
The Woman's Common was a fully women-owned and operated cooperative in Toronto offering a club, restaurant, and venue for cultural events. It was a safe, harassment-free environment for lesbians.

The Woman’s Common
This pin shows support for The Toronto Rape Crisis Centre and its work with women who have experienced sexual violence and to eradicate violence against women and children. The Toronto Rape Crisis Centre was established in 1974, one of the first in Canada.

Toronto Rape Crisis Centre
The She-roes were a lesbian baseball team that competed in the Gay Games 1990.

Toronto She-roes
The button shows the phoenix of the bookstore rising from the ashes after the 1983 firebombing of the Morgentaler abortion clinic. The Toronto Women's Bookstore was in the same building and was severely damaged by the attack.

Toronto Women’s Bookstore: Rebuilding with Your Help

Tupperware Preserves The Family
This undated button has two women symbols.

Two Women
The button highlights the fight to challenge the pink ghetto and end gender stereotyping of women's role in the workplace.

TYPING is not a Female secondary sex characteristic
Undated button for the Union internationale des ouvriers du vêtement pour dames/International Ladies Garment Workers Union (UIOVD/ILGWU).

UIOVD-ILGWU
Button for the 1995 UN/NGO World Conference on Women held in Beijing.

UN/NGO World Conference on Women – Beijing ’95
Unity is Our Strength button combines words and images for "woman" from around the world.

Unity is our Strength
The slogan Uppity Women Unite was used in response to the idea that women should know and stay "in their place".

Uppity Women Unite
This undated button is for Vancouver Wimmin's Tea and Torch Society.

Vancouver Wimmin’s Tea and Torch Society
This fabric patch uses the clenched, raised fist combined with a Venus symbol to represent Feminism. This remains an iconic symbol of the women’s liberation movement.

Venus with Fist

Violence Against Women – No Excuse – CUPW
Wages For Housework button

Wages for Housework

WAR Is Menstruation Envy
Sexism in education is the topic of this button.

Warning! Schools Spread Sexism
In 1988, Karen Andrews, with the support of her union CUPE, successfully took the Ontario Health Insurance Plan to court to broaden the definition of family to include her lesbian partner and her children so they could be covered by her benefits.

We are Family – Karen Andrews/Local 1996 – Access to OHIP Committee

We Will Not Be Beaten
"Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History" pin owned by Cathy Mulroy, one of the women involved in the fight to win access to jobs at INCO in Sudbury.

Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History
Wen Do was developed as a self-defense course for women and girls and continues to be an important feminist initiative that focuses on issues of sexual violence facing women and teaches women how to protect themselves. It is trans inclusive.

Wendo Women Only
The Ontario Advisory Council on Women's Issues/Conseil consultatif de l'Ontario sur la condition féminine produced this undated button to highlight the importance of women voting.

What if every woman votes….Si toutes les femmes votaient..

What If Prince Charming Never Shows?
A button challenging rape myths and emphasizing that sexual activity without consent is coercive and abusive.

What Part of NO! Don’t You Understand?
This button was produced by the Canadian government to mark 1975 as International Women's Year, so designated by the United Nations. The UN began marking March 8th as International Women's Day the same year. It also designated the decade from 1975-1985 as the Decade for Women. A world conference held in 1975 in Mexico established a set of goals to advance women's rights over these ten years. In 1985, the World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the UN Decade for Women convened in Nairobi.

Why Not? International Women’s Year 1975
This undated button was produced by the Ontario government stating that there is no right allowing that allows a man to assault his wife.

Wife Assault – No Man Has the Right
This undated button produced at University of Western Ontario uses the acronym WITCH as a short form for "Woman of Intelligence, Trying to Change Humanity."

WITCH – I’m a Woman of Intelligence Trying to Change Humanity – WIC-UWO
Undated button on sexual assault produced by the Government of Ontario

Without Consent, It’s Sexual Assault
Women of Steel button combining women symbol with Steelworkers - Metallos logo

Woman of Steel – Steelworkers

Woman Symbol and Globe

Women & Unions … Stronger Together!
This button features intertwined symbols for Woman and Peace.

Women / Peace
Many feminists were active around a wide range of concerns, including peace and the environment. This undated button expresses women's solidarity for the campaign to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons and testing.

Women Against Nukes
Women Against Violence Against Women (WAVAW) was a feminist organization active especially in Toronto and Vancouver.

Women Against Violence Against Women (WAVAW)
This 1981 button advocates for women and legal reform.

Women and Legal Reform 1981
On February 14, 1981, during the debate over the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, about 1,300 women from across the country held their own Ad Hoc Women and the Constitution Conference in Ottawa. This event was organized by feminist groups following the federal government’s cancellation of a constitutional conference planned by the Advisory Council on the Status of Women. The ad hoc conference called for a stronger equality-rights clause and a specific guarantee of equal rights between men and women. Both reforms were included in the final Charter.

Women and the Constitution – February 14 1981
"Women and Unions - Equal Partners" produced by the Canadian Labour Congress.

Women and Unions – Equal Partners
Whimsical button donated by Cathy Mulroy, an activist involved in winning access to jobs at INCO for women.

Women Are Wonderful
Designed by Brenda Fermin in solidarity with women around the world

Women Around the World
A button drawing attention to women artists.

Women artists are everywhere

Women for Freedom for Women
In July 1983, the Canadian government announced the guidance system for the U.S. cruise missile would be tested in Northern Alberta. The announcement was followed by widespread opposition across the country. Many feminists were part of organizing and supporting protest actions.

Women Gathering to Stop the Cruise
Women in Black is a women's anti-war movement with an estimated 10,000 activists around the world. The first group was formed by Israeli women in Jerusalem in 1988, following the outbreak of the First Intifada. It began as a vigil held every Friday in central Jerusalem, where women would wear black in mourning for all victims of the conflict and hold signs protesting the occupation of Palestinian land.The initiative soon spread to various other locations in Israel, with women standing weekly in main squares of cities. The movement soon spread to many European and North American cities.

Women in Black – End the Occupation
This button highlights the fight to open doors for women to enter non-traditional jobs such as the trades. It was one element of affirmative action campaigns led by union.

Women in Trades
This button for women in trades features the woman symbol with an upraised fist holding a wrench.

Women in Trades
this is a 1983 button promoting women in the trades.

Women in Trades 1983: Pink Collar to Blue Collar
Undated Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) button: "Women make the union strong."

Women make the union strong – cupw.sttp
Take Back the Night marches and vigils are organized by women in communities across Canada as a protest and form of direct action to end violence against women. This button was created by the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre is the Toronto event in September 1986.

Women Unite – Take Back the Night
The National Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC) organized a strong campaign in the 1988 federal election that highlighted the importance of the free trade issue to women's equality and urged women to vote.

Women Vote – National Action Committee on the Status of Women
This button's slogan is "Women Who Seek To Be Equal To Men Lack Ambition"

Women Who Seek To Be Equal To Men Lack Ambition

Women’s Books for a Feminist Future
A button defending women's centres after major funding cuts in 1990.

Women’s Centres – A National Treasure
A button with the iconic symbol of the women's liberation movement

Women’s Liberation
The “Women’s March Against Poverty was a cross-country action organized by the Canadian Labour Congress and the National Action Committee on the Status of Women in May-June 1996. The themes were “For Bread and Roses – For Jobs and Justice”.

Women’s March Against Poverty – For Bread and Roses – For Jobs and Justice – May-June 15, 1996
Button for the Women's 1996 March Against Poverty and featuring the theme "For Bread and Roses - For Jobs and Justice". The cross-country action was organized by the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and the National Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC).

Women’s March Against Poverty: For Bread and Roses/ For Jobs and Justice – May-June 15, 1996
The button was made for a 1983 art exhibit from a "woman's perspective" held at the Partisan Gallery in Toronto.

Women’s Perspective ’83 – Partisan Gallery
The button was created by the Feminist Action Collective (Ottawa) around 1981 and distributed with the leaflets on women's work and also produced by the FAC .

women’s work…no pay, low pay….some choice!
AIDS ACTION NOW! was set up in 1988 and has been an important force in the fight to stop the AIDS epidemic. The button focuses attention on women who are HIV+ or living with AIDS.

Women+AIDS – AIDS Action Now!
Button calling on women to organize for change.

Women- Don’t Agonize, ORGANIZE

Women’s Cultural Building
"y'est temps!"

Y’est Temps
"You Don't Need a Prick to Lay a Brick"

You Don’t Need a Prick to Lay a Brick

 Behind every successful woman is herself

‘tis not the meek that shall inherit the Earth – but the militant