Teenage Feminists: High School Students and the Women's Movement in Ontario, 1968-1980

Abstract

This thesis examines the involvement of teenage girls in the upsurge of feminist activism between 1968 and 1980. Young women across Ontario engaged in feminism in a variety of ways; some joined high school women’s liberation groups in their communities or started their own feminist groups in their schools, while others reflected a more intimate and subtle feminism, challenging gender discrimination in their everyday lives. Using an age-focused analysis, this thesis argues that teenage girls partook in everyday feminism. Everyday feminism entails the recognition of discrimination and inequalities in intimate, everyday spaces, and the words, actions, and thoughts that challenged these inequalities. By broadening the definition of feminism beyond adult-oriented women’s groups and issues, this thesis captures the feminist actions of young women. Spaces and issues that mattered to young women such as school, sports, sex education, and fashion were all ways that teenage girls negotiated with discrimination and feminism. While young women sometimes collaborated with adults, at other times their efforts were more individualized, spontaneous, or collaborative with their peers. This thesis contributes to a more complex and varied history of feminism in Canada by taking seriously the issues that mattered to young women and recognizing the reality of their involvement in feminist action.