Femmes: images, modeles/Women: Images, Role-Models: Proceedings of the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women Conference

Marguerite Andersen is a professor of French studies at the University
of Guelph.

Women: Images, Role-Models assembles in one volume the proceedings of the 1984 conference of the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women. They are published under the editorship of Evelyne Tardy, who was also responsible for the organization of the conference, two enormous and well-executed tasks.

The 300-page volume, with two columns of text (in small print) on each page, contains material of incredible richness: more than 100 women, academics, filmmakers, dramatists, and visual artists presented, on November 9, 10, and 11, the results of their work, experiments, and research to the participants. Philosophy, sociology, literary studies, art, religion, theatre, sports, education, and many other subjects were examined from the feminist point of view, by women, for women.

Obviously, not all of the contributions are of the same high quality. Yet, on every page our curiosity is aroused, as all the material is new, recently discovered and thoroughly researched. I remember a question that a fellow academic asked me, this year, at a meeting of one of the SSHRC committees, to which we both belonged. He seriously asked for how much longer “women’s themes” needed to be explored in Ph.D. theses or in other forms of research. I was flabbergasted, and returned the question by inquiring whether we could foresee any end of research on men. With Women: Images, Role-Models it becomes quite clear that the field of women’s studies is vast and as yet unlimited.

The illustrations in the book arc of poor quality, mostly amateur photographs that did not turn out well. Yet they add life to the volume. The texts of the conference papers arc printed in either English on French, according to the language in which they were originally presented. Each paper is preceded by an abstract in the other official language. The book sells for $6.00, an incredibly cheap price for a great amount of knowledge. It can be obtained from the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women, Suite 415, 151 Slater Street, Ottawa, Ontario, K1P 5H3. It is a must for any public on university library; the private library owner will also be satisfied with the volume, as it brings together the theory and praxis of women’s lives, as well as the images they reflect in all realms of society.