Date of Award
1988
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Sociology
Supervisor
Professor R. Howard
Abstract
This study explores the development of francophone women's movements in Quebec, 1960-1980, In the light of a theoretical framework derived from hegemony theory and feminist theory. In particular, it Is concerned to discover how the ideologies of women and the politics of feminism are related to the consolidation of ruling and opposition blocs in three periods, which have been characterised as liberal-modernisation (1960-1976), a crisis of hegemony (1970-1976) and progressive nationalist (1976-1980). The thesis argues that women's movements are not merely constituted by the social and political conditions in which they develop, but are aIso constitutive of more general alliances on a political field structured by class, national and gender struggles. Liberal, social Catholic, revolutionary, radical and trade union women's movements are studied.
The study argues that the development of feminist politics was not, as has been thought, simply backward. Instead, liberal feminist political organizations developed in advance of similar organizations in the rest of Canada. They did so by appropriating elements of the legitimating liberal modernisation ideology and adapting them to support their programmes for improvement in women's status and for the representation of women in the state, through an advisory ConseII du Statut de la femme. The study also argues that feminist and nationalist aspirations were not merely opposed to one another, as is commonIy argued, but that in the long run, the mobilised political field which grew out of national and trade union struggles, permitted rapid and innovative reform in state policy. Finally, the study points to the ways in which a feminist gender politics, particularly as influenced by trade union feminism, was central to the consolidation of the progressive-nationalist bloc, Ied by the Part I québécois.
Recommended Citation
Maroney, Heather Jon, "Contemporary Quebec Feminism: The Interrelation of Political and Ideological Development in Women's Organizations, Trade Unions, Political Parties and State Policy, 1960-1980" (1988). Open Access Dissertations and Theses. Paper 2052.
http://digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca/opendissertations/2052