Economic Security

A generic button for women that declares her support for economic justice.

This section contains material on the fight against systemic economic inequality that kept women in situations of economic dependency and/or poverty. Items reflect a wide range of concerns, including income insecurity, housing and homelessness, unemployment insurance, social assistance, and pensions among others. While many of these fights for economic justice and security were specific to women, they also took place alongside others in economically precarious situations.

Materials related to economic inequality in the workplace are in the Work and Labour Section.

More about Economic Security

Key themes include:

  • Experiences of women and others living in poverty and economic insecurity
  • Systemic foundations and scope of women’s poverty and economic insecurity
  • Legal challenges and political campaigns to address barriers and target systemic causes
  • Advocacy for public policy and programs to build socially funded support systems and services
  • Intersection of class, race, gender, age, disability and other systems of discrimination contributing to systemic economic inequality and marginalization

Archival Materials

Buttons

"Bread & Roses I.W.D. March 8, 1986"
Bread & Roses – IWD March 8 1986

  • Year created:

    1986

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
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

  • Year created:

    1993

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
This is a button produced for the Toronto International Women's Day march and celebrations in 1978.
International Women’s Day 1978 (Toronto)

  • Year created:

    1978

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
"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

  • Year created:

    1979

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

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

  • Year created:

    1983

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
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!

  • Year created:

    1984

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
This is a button for International Women's Day in 1985.
International Women’s Day 1985

  • Year created:

    1985

  • Language:

    English
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

  • Year created:

    1985

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
This is a button for International Women's Day in 1987.
International Women’s Day 1987

  • Year created:

    1987

  • Language:

    English
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)

  • Year created:

    1982

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

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

  • Year created:

    1989

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
Undated button protesting women being" left out in the cold" by the pension fund.
It’s Cold Out Here – Pension Fund Profits and Women

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
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

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
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

  • Year created:

    1977

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
"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

  • Year created:

    1996

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
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

  • Year created:

    1996

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English

Documents
AGM & Lobby (1996): Resolutions

  • Year created:

    1996

  • Author(s):

    Jane Robinson, Amy Go, Marianne Roy

  • Region:

    British Columbia

  • Language:

    English and French
AGM & Lobby (1972): Strategy for Change – Conference Materials

  • Year created:

    1972

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
AGM & Lobby (1972): Strategy for Change Conference – Emergency Statement

  • Year created:

    1972

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
AGM & Lobby (1985): The Canadian Women’s Economic Summit – Resolutions Passed

  • Year created:

    1985

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English and French
AGM & Lobby (1992): NAC Campaign Proposals – Strategies for Change: Part II

  • Year created:

    1992

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
Are These Your Stories?

  • Year created:

    1991

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
Discussion Paper – Towards a Strategy

  • Year created:

    --

  • Author(s):

    Melody Kilian

  • Region:

    British Columbia

  • Language:

    English
Fact Sheet – Aboriginal Women and Poverty

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
thumbnail of International Women’s Day Speech by Angela Robertson (Toronto) – March 1989
International Women’s Day Speech delivered by Angela Robertson (Toronto) – March 1989

  • Year created:

    1989

  • Author(s):

    Angela Robertson

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
International Women’s Day Toronto (1979) – Pamphlet

  • Year created:

    1979

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
International Women’s Day Toronto (1980) – Agenda for Women’s Fair

  • Year created:

    1980

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
International Women’s Day Toronto (1980) – Organizing Flyer

  • Year created:

    1980

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
International Women’s Day Toronto (1980) – Pamphlet

  • Year created:

    1980

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
International Women’s Day Toronto (1987) Pamphlet

  • Year created:

    1987

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
Issues & Campaigns (1988): Free Trade is a Women’s Issue

  • Year created:

    1988

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English and French
Issues & Campaigns (1989): Bill C-21: A Minefield for Women

  • Year created:

    1989

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
Issues & Campaigns (1989): NAC Update

  • Year created:

    1989

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English and French
Issues & Campaigns (1993): Equality is the Bottom Line – Our Lives

  • Year created:

    1993

  • Author(s):

    Sunera Thobani

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
Issues & Campaigns (1999): Advancing Equality Rights in Canada

  • Year created:

    1999

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English and French
Issues & Campaigns: Action Canada Caravan – Join the Fight for Jobs, Justice and Equality

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English and French
Issues & Campaigns: Reclaim Our Future – Make It Work/Prendre notre avenir en main – Au boulot!

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English and French
Jobs and Women – an NDP discussion paper

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
Let’s Talk About Women and Literacy

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
Meeting Women’s Training Needs: Case Studies in Women’s Training Phase II Report 

  • Year created:

    1994

  • Author(s):

    Susan Wismer, Karen Lior

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
thumbnail of Ontario Federation of Labour Submission to the Royal Commission on the Status of Women (1968)
Ontario Federation of Labour Submission to the Royal Commission on the Status of Women (1968)

  • Year created:

    1968

  • Author(s):

    Ontario Federation of Labour

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
thumbnail of Organize IWD 1979 – Flyer
Organize IWD 1979 – Flyer

  • Year created:

    1978

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
Our Story: The Brief presented by Women Rally for Action

  • Year created:

    1976

  • Region:

    British Columbia

  • Language:

    English
Paying for Violence: Some of the Costs of Violence Against Women in B.C.

  • Year created:

    1996

  • Author(s):

    Richard Kerr, Janice Mclean

  • Region:

    British Columbia

  • Language:

    English
Policy (1981): Discussion Paper on Pensions

  • Year created:

    1981

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
Policy Recommendations on the Abortion Issue

  • Year created:

    1978

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
Poverty – Canada’s Legacy to Women (1969)

  • Year created:

    1969

  • Author(s):

    Alice James

  • Region:

    British Columbia

  • Language:

    English
Poverty: Women for Economic Justice

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
Reports (1982): Les femmes et les Pensions

  • Year created:

    1982

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    French
Reports (1983): Funding of Social Services for Women – Canada Assistance Plan

  • Year created:

    1983

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
Reports (1993): Review of the Situation of Women in Canada

  • Year created:

    1993

  • Author(s):

    Punam Khosla

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
The Forgotten Women: Labour Adjustment for Immigrant Women (Phase I & II)

  • Year created:

    1990

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
What is Housing Intensification?

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
Women Against Free Trade – Manifesto

  • Year created:

    1988

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
Women Against the Unemployment Insurance Commission

  • Year created:

    1973

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
Women and Poverty

  • Year created:

    1979

  • Author(s):

    Louise Dulude

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
Women and Poverty Revisited

  • Year created:

    1990

  • Author(s):

    Louise Dulude

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
Women Plan Toronto Kit: Our Needs, Our Communities, Let’s Plan

  • Year created:

    1990

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
Women Plan Toronto: Shared Experiences and Dreams

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English

Ephemera
Women’s March Against Poverty and Violence Against Women

  • Year created:

    1996

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

Films

Still from the film "A Score for Women's Voices" featuring a multiracial group of women marching towards an underpass with their fists raised in solidarity. Above, them more women stand on a bridge cheering.
A Score for Women’s Voices

  • Year created:

    2000andafter

  • Filmmaker(s):

    Sophie Bissonnette

  • Language:

    English

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)
Film still of Augusta sitting with two log cabins behind her.
Augusta

  • Year created:

    1976

  • Filmmaker(s):

    Anne Wheeler

  • Language:

    English

  • Region:

    British Columbia
Still from the film "Building Futures" featuring a white woman wearing a red shirt, blue jeans, and a white hard hat drilling a door frame.
Building Futures: Re-Building Our Lives

  • Year created:

    1996

  • Filmmaker(s):

    Sher Morgan

  • Language:

    English

  • Region:

    British Columbia
Still from the film "Democracy à la Maude" featuring a black and white archival photograph of white women and children marching in the street.
Democracy à la Maude

  • Year created:

    1998

  • Filmmaker(s):

    Patricia Kearns

  • Language:

    English

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)
Still from the film "No Way! Not Me" featuring Rosemary Brown, an older Black woman with white cropped hair wearing a teal shirt, speaking on a stage.
No Way! Not Me

  • Year created:

    1987

  • Filmmaker(s):

    Ariadna Ochrymovych

  • Language:

    English

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)
Reel Women’s Cable Collective – Great Expectations: Women and the Economy Parts 1-3

  • Year created:

    1984

  • Filmmaker(s):

    Reel Women Cable Collective, Cable Regina Productions

  • Language:

    English

  • Region:

    Saskatchewan
Still from the short film "Unnatural Causes" depicting Lillian Allen, a black woman with short black hair wearing colourful overalls, speaking to the camera and writing the words "no rest, no rest" on a white brick wall.
Unnatural Causes

  • Year created:

    1989

  • Filmmaker(s):

    Maureen Judge

  • Language:

    English

  • Region:

    Ontario
Black and white still from the film "Who's Counting?" depicting Marilyn Waring, a middle aged white woman with short brown hair, looking off to the side of the frame.
Who’s Counting? Marilyn Waring on Sex, Lies and Global Economics

  • Year created:

    1995

  • Filmmaker(s):

    Terre Nash

  • Language:

    English

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

Periodicals

NAC Housing Newsletter

NAC Housing News – Vol. 3, no. 1 – Summer 1991

  • Year created:

    1991

  • Publisher:

    NAC Housing Committee

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
NAC Housing Newsletter – Vol. 1, no. 2 – November 1987

  • Year created:

    1987

  • Publisher:

    NAC Housing Committee

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
NAC Housing Newsletter – Vol. 2, no. 1 – Spring 1988

  • Year created:

    1988

  • Publisher:

    NAC Housing Committee

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
NAC Housing Newsletter – Vol. 2, no. 2 – Fall 1988

  • Year created:

    1988

  • Publisher:

    NAC Housing Committee

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English and French
NAC Housing Newsletter – Vol. 2, no. 4 – Fall 1989

  • Year created:

    1989

  • Publisher:

    NAC Housing Committee

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English and French
NAC Housing Newsletter – Vol. 2, no.3 – Spring 1989

  • Year created:

    1989

  • Publisher:

    NAC Housing Committee

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English and French

Photos

Women of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) participate in the 1996 "Women's March Against Poverty - For Bread and Roses, For Jobs and Justice." The cross-country action was organized by the Canadian Labour Congress and the National Action Committee on the Status of Women.
Canadian Auto Workers Join Women’s March Against Poverty

  • Year created:

    1996

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)
This undated photo was taken at an IWD March in Toronto. The images highlight the themes of Choice and Fighting Poverty. Photograph by Amy Gottlieb.
International Women’s Day (Toronto) – Choice & Fighting Poverty

  • Year created:

    --

  • Photographer:

    Amy Gottlieb

  • Region:

    Ontario
This Oxfam Canada banner was carried at the 1983 International Women's Day March in Toronto.
International Women’s Day 1983 (Toronto) – Oxfam Canada

  • Year created:

    1983

  • Photographer:

    Judy Blankenship

  • Region:

    Ontario
This is an undated photo of welfare rights protest at Queen's Park features banner of Sole Support Moms.
Sole Support Moms Demand Welfare Rights

  • Year created:

    1982

  • Region:

    Ontario
Photo of one section of the Banner Project showing CUPE 2424 slogans including "Tory Economics = Working Poor" as well as the Women's Centre, St. Thomas University's "Fight Sexism; Fight Racism". Women's groups across Canada were asked to produce a protest banner that would become part of a huge banner in Ottawa. The goal was to show the strength and solidarity of women during the Third Commonwealth meeting of Ministers Responsible for Women’s Affairs in October 1990.
The Banner Project (1990): CUPE 2424

  • Year created:

    1990

  • Photographer:

    Amy Gottlieb

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

Posters

The theme for the 1979 International Women's Day March and Rally in Toronto was Jobs and Rights for Women. The poster also shows the demands for jobs, full social services, control of our bodies, and lesbian rights.
International Women’s Day Poster 1979 (Toronto) – International Women’s Day! Jobs and Rights for Women!

  • Year created:

    1979

  • Visual Artist:

    Barbara Klunder

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
The central theme of the 1980 International Women's Day March in Toronto was Bread and Roses in the 80s - Jobs and Rights for Women. Demands included full employment rights, full support for social services, ending violence against women, a safe and healthy environment, and control of our bodies.
International Women’s Day: Bread and Roses in the Eighties

  • Year created:

    1980

  • Visual Artist:

    Brenda McCrank

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
through fear into power – Feminists Examine the Right

  • Year created:

    1985

  • Region:

    British Columbia

  • Language:

    English
Unions Work for Women

  • Visual Artist:

    Canadian Labour Congress

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English