Invisible Power: The Women Who Run Canada

Lin Good, a consultant, was Associate Librarian at Queen’s University.

This is a provocative, enthralling book, designed to evoke appreciation
or anger but not indifference. It conveys the vitality of the women
whose stories are told and is a treasury of useful quotes. Senator Pat
Carney tried to stop its sale because of an alleged error in the account
of the January 1991 vote in the Upper House that defeated the bill
returning abortion to the Criminal Code. Fortunately, she did not
succeed.

The names in the index constitute an inventory of female achievers
whose commitment to various causes has enriched our society: raising
funds for the Montreal Symphony Orchestra; fighting for equal protection
and benefit under the law; or creating changes in society to enable the
dispossessed to survive with dignity. These and many other agendas have
attracted women as disparate in background and resources as the causes
they espouse.

MacLaren groups her stories into five categories of power—social,
activist, institutional, individual, and what she calls the power of
meritocracy. These divisions, like her selection of women for inclusion
in the book, are personal but appropriate. Moreover, she weaves
connecting threads among the categories and the biographies to give a
more coherent account than the format would suggest. In summarizing how
women as different from each other as Hilary Weston, Laura Sabia, and
Rosalie Abella get things done, MacLaren provides a pertinent overview
of the changes achieved by and for women in Canada since the 1950s.

Several memorable events recorded here show how until recently married
women were treated virtually as chattels, and how women’s work was
undervalued in the market place. The Irene Murdoch case, which focused
on family property law, began in 1968. The Abella report on Equality in
Employment was published in 1984. On August 20, 1987, the Canadian Bar
Association organized a debate on the report. This occasion exploded
dramatically when Barbara Amiel made an eloquent and vitriolic attack on
Abella and her report, only to be spontaneously and passionately
countered by Rosemary Brown.

Obviously women’s organizations do not necessarily sympathize with
each other. Establishment women scorn the tactics of the activists.
Activists, striving to change the law and the structure of society, are
critical of colleagues who are content to work within the status quo.
The impression left by MacLaren’s book is that real change would come
more quickly if women worked together downplaying their differences
while seeking the ultimate goal. However, from this rich record of
individual accomplishments it is not clear that there is any agreement
on the ultimate goal.