Issues To assist with navigation, archival materials are categorized under Issues, Events, Organizations, and Material Type. Issues group together archival items that are connected to particular themes or topics. The categorization is intentionally broad to reflect the breadth and depth of activism from the 1970s to 1990s, during which feminist thought and language were rapidly evolving and hotly contested. Sub-issues have been created where the archival collection contains substantive material related to a distinct aspect of the broader theme. These items are normally only tagged under the sub-issue and not the parent issue. Click on an Issue to read a short description and see related materials in our collection, grouped by material type. If you are looking for items that use language or terminology that is not reflected in our Issues list, try using keywords in the site search using a plus before the word you want included (eg: +assault; +deaf). More about Issues It is difficult to capture the diversity and complexity of feminist activism from the 1970s to 1990s. The women’s movement that emerged during these years did so amid a period of tremendous economic and social change. It was also a time of widespread and radical political upheaval as a worldwide wave of liberation and anti-oppression movements confronted the status quo in Canada and internationally. The range of concerns that feminists took up during this period was extensive as we began to recognize the myriad ways women were unequal, devalued, and oppressed. Nor was the movement a monolith – far from it! Disagreements were often fierce and hotly debated. Over this period, too, the movement was challenged to grapple with intersectional oppressions and these debates were pivotal in coming to a more expansive feminist understanding and practice that did not centre white feminism. The Issues listed here reflect some of the many priorities of this shifting and diverse movement.
