Guylaine Demers - Playing It Forward: 50 Years of Women and Sport in Canada

The Feminist History Society is committed to creating a lasting record of the womens movement in Canada and Qubec for the period between 1960 and the year of the Societys founding, 2010. Our objective is to celebrate 50 years of activity and accomplishment by creating a written legacy, for ourselves, our families and friends, our communities, students and scholars. The beautiful books we publish, with membership support, will be as spirited and diverse as the movement itself, meant to stand together and to encourage and challenge those who follow.

Some writers reject the concept of waves with respect to the history of the womens movement, but many have described the feminist campaigns for suffrage and temperance during the nineteenth and early twentieth century as the first wave of feminism. The upsurge of feminist activism that began in the 1960s has often been characterized as the second wave.

Feminism has a history that predates the 1960s and will continue long after 2010, but our series is intended to encompass events during the second wave. In 1960, the Voice of Women was founded in Canada and Qubec. The decade of the 1960s also saw the appointment of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women and the creation of womens liberation groups across the country. By 2010, as some of the founding mothers of our generation of feminism have begun to die, it serves as a wake-up call regarding the pressing need to chronicle our history. Our movement is not at an end. But the third and fourth waves are upon us, and now is the time to take stock of what we did and how we did it. To preserve our memoirs for posterity before we lose many other key players or our memories begin to fail.

Over the next decade, our goal is to publish one or two books a year chronicling different aspects of the movement from sea to sea to sea. Members of the non-profit Feminist History Society receive an annual book at no extra charge and may also purchase other books published by the Society. The topics will be as diverse as our wide-ranging campaigns for equality through transformative social, economic, civil, political and cultural change. We will make every effort to be inclusive of gender, race, class, geography, culture, dis/ability, language, sexual identity and age. We maintain an open call for submissions.

Our first volume, edited by Marguerite Andersen, was Feminist Journeys/Voies fministes (2010). Michele Landsbergs Writing the Revolution (2011) was the second, and Feminism la Qubcoise (2012) by Micheline Dumont, was the third.

M. Elizabeth Atcheson, Constance Backhouse, Lorraine Greaves, Diana Majury and Beth Symes form the working collective for the Society. Shari Graydon has shared her expertise and time to help move the Society forward. Mary Breen helps with the Societys administration. Sandra Bialystok served as this volumes very skilled editor. Dawn Buie has created the Societys website, making it simple to join and contact us. Zab of Zab Design & Typography has created the visual identity for the Society as well as the book design for the series. We offer our heartfelt thanks to all of the talented and committed women who are providing encouragement, advice and support.

M. ELIZABETH ATCHESON, CONSTANCE BACKHOUSE,
LORRAINE GREAVES, DIANA MAJURY & BETH SYMES

A project of Womens Education and Research Foundation of Ontario Inc.
Charitable Registration No. 889933669 r r 0001