When in Doubt, Do Both

Abstract

In this memoir Kay Macpherson, the respected feminist, pacifist, and political activist, takes a delightful look back at a rich and fascinating life, dedicated to the principles of women's rights and social justice, and to an unshakeable conviction that women working together can change the world, and have a marvellous time in the process. Born in England in 1913, Macpherson immigrated to Canada in 1935. Nine years later she married C.B. Macpherson, then in the early years of his distinguished career as a political philosopher, and together they raised three children. In the late 1940s, a busy mother and academic wife, Macpherson joined the Association of Women Electors. Eventually she served as its national president, an office she held also with the Voice of Women and later with the National Action Committee on the Status of Women. She ran several times as a federal candidate for the NDP. She travelled the world as an advocate of women's rights, and spent most of her time in Canada in the consuming work of social change: organizing, demonstrating, writing letters, giving speeches, and, above all, meeting. From their meetings Macpherson and her colleagues moved into the streets, into Parliament, and, eventually, into history, with one of the most important achievements for Canadian women in the twentieth century: the celebrated equality clause in the Constitution of 1982. Macpherson's story is the story of second-wave feminism in Canada, which cut across party, class, and language lines, and was characterized by a tremendous sense of unity and of hope. It is also a candid account of family stresses, including strained relations with her children, the death of her husband in 1987, andthat of her son two years later. Kay Macpherson remains unshaken in her commitment to grassroots action. On receiving the Order of Canada in 1982, she was asked by the Governor General what she had been up to lately. 'Revolution, ' she replied.