About Canada

Mitchell traces Canada's long fight for gender equality through its pivotal moments and the women who drove them. Her account begins well before European settlers arrived, examining how First Nations communities divided responsibilities between women and men. Women in those societies often negotiated peace, held authority over property, and counseled leaders. She also follows First Nations women as they challenged the discrimination against women and children written into the Indian Act.

When colonial settlement began, women were among the first administrators and founded the earliest schools and hospitals. Later, women were among the first to speak out against slavery, internment and racial segregation. They also pressed for a larger public role, winning fights for the vote, access to university and the right to divorce, and they campaigned for child protection laws, public health clinics, minimum wages, equal pay and safer, fairer working conditions.

The book also considers how women's lives changed once birth control and abortion were legalized and once patriarchal privilege was removed from family law.

Mitchell places this history alongside the report of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women, published some forty-five years ago. She argues that the struggle for equality is still necessary, even though activism has eliminated many forms of discrimination. The book introduces many of the women who reshaped Canada through their efforts. A few are widely known, but many have been forgotten, and Mitchell contends they deserve a more prominent place in the country's history.