Rise Up! Feminist Digital Archive
Launched in 1989, Waterlily was a quarterly feminist publication run by a collective of Newfoundland and Labrador women. The publication welcomed submissions from women across the province, including articles, poetry, and short stories on a range of topics pertaining to their lives.
From Vol. 1, No1. of Waterlily (Summer 1989):
“Waterlily: a flower found in marshy bogs. A plant normally found in more temperate climates, it survives this harsh environment and like Newfoundland and Labrador women, flowers in spite of it. In the 1920s, there was a short-lived women’s bulletin called “Waterlily”. We would like to reclaim some of the history of our foremothers that was lost when that paper was destroyed. We’re also reclaiming our right to evoke various connotations in words that are often considered too “soft”.
Waterlily: a quarterly feminist publication run by a collective of Newfoundland and Labrador women.
We have chosen a newspaper forum to air our views because we see this as a way to openly discuss issues that directly affect women. Most often our stories are told from a male perspective, which in itself would be ok except that it often bypasses our point of view.
As a collective we meet weekly to discuss the direction of WATERLILY, its policy and to exchange: our knowledge of how a paper is put together. WATERLILY will appear four times annually and will be distributed throughout the province (and nationally where possible). The paper will be feminist in its essence; that is, it is unequivocally aiming to support and inspire women to take an active, leading role to establish an environment where there is no room for inequality or sexism. We will only publish work by women, though if space allows we will accept some letters from men.
More than our desire to express our viewpoint, we are here because we have a passionate desire to use and expand on our freedom of voice/choice…such an intrinsic human need should be realized and celebrated openly.”
