‘Do I need to sit beside the man to be equal to Him’? Second‐Wave Feminism and Jewish Women in Montreal, 1962–1980

Abstract

AbstractThis article is a preliminary study into the impact of feminism within the Jewish‐Canadian community in Montreal in the 1960s and 1970s, based on a combination of archival research and oral history. This research reveals that while community, religious elites and ordinary Jewish women in Montreal did engage with feminist ideas right from the beginning, this engagement was limited in the 1960s and 1970s. Specifically, questions arose about the compatibility of feminism with Jewish religion and culture, particularly with respect to the devaluation of motherhood and family within the larger movement. As a result, Jewish women in Montreal selectively incorporated second‐wave feminism into their lives in contradictory and inconsistent ways, viewing the role of women in the home and family as a source of pride and strength. This suggests the need to rethink our image of feminism in this period by including new understandings of feminist activism and the possibility that the lack of connection over the subject of motherhood was the norm rather than the exception.