Herstory 1987: The Canadian Women's Calandar

Herstory 1987: The Canadian Women‘s Calendar is a useful desk calendar which can be easily slipped into a purse, bag, or briefcase. It is an all-purpose datebook with a clear layout for notations to help organize time and juggle schedules. A separate section for longer notes is also included. The calendar shows the phases of the moon, marks holidays and pertinent historical anniversaries (such as the winning of federal and provincial voting rights and other breakthroughs achieved by Canadian feminists, past and present), along with the noting of other significant events (International Women’s Day, Take Back the Night marches). It is full of historical information about the situations of Canadian women, the situations of challenge and diversity, of past accomplishments and future goals.

Herstory 1987 is full of photographs, illustrations, poetry and essays reflecting the struggles of pioneer women, of Native women, of con-temporary women, fighting against sexism and racism, fighting for education, the recognition of artistic achievement, for economic and political parity. Herstory 1987 carries memorable quotations such as, “The exigencies of marriage, pregnancy and child care had a major impact on the continuity of work for a large majority of women, but almost no impact for men” from Statistics Canada, 1985. Or, from Marjorie Cohen, “Real liberation is not merely the opportunity to choose between set alternatives. Freedom is a chance to formulate the available choices, to create alternatives from which we can choose.” The Saskatoon Women’s Calendar Collective, the grassroots organization which produces Herstory, should be commended for its efforts in bringing together such diverse voices and such diverse issues, in representing the diversity of women. The essays and photographs on Native women, their work, their struggle for status, their lives, and their history provide a particularly Canadian frame for the following words from the Halifax World Peace Conference: “We reject a world order based on domination, exploitation, patriarchy, racism and sexism. We demand a new order based on justice and the equitable P.J. Hammel distribution of the world’s resources.” Throughout Herstory the links are made, from the issues of illiteracy to the “feminization of poverty,” the links of struggle, the links for change.

Herstory 1987 is not only a useful datebook calendar, but it is also a colourful patch-quilt of the past. For both men and women, it is a useful guide with which to plan the future.