A Fair Shake: Autobiographical Essays by McGill Women

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

In 1984 several Canadian universities celebrated the 100th anniversary of the admission of women. This volume, part of the centennial programme, consists of brief, candid autobiographies of women who came from many parts of the world to study at McGill University.

There is no “party line.” The variety and richness of the individual stories reflect a diversity of experience and personality, but there is a common thread. The Governor General, Madame Jeanne Sauvé, in a perceptive foreword, records the formula for success running through them — a combination of sound training and hard work.

Some of these women were pioneers, like Mme. Claire Kirkland-Casgrain, first female Cabinet Member in Quebec, now a judge. Many are feminists, defined by Sarah Paltiel, Director-General of Dawson College, Montreal, as having “confidence in their own talents and... their equal right to a place in the sun.”

Combining a career with marriage and a family is demanding. Myrna Gopnik, Associate Professor of Linguistics at McGill, and a wife with six children and two grandchildren, offers no formula or advice. “It is hard to sort out your life into bits and pieces when it was lived as a whole.” She labels her story a “cautionary tale” for young women; but her activities, vitality, and warmth should serve as a spur, rather than a caution.

These women are exceptional; the status of women generally has improved little. Women, even graduates, still earn less than their male counterparts. There are few women in senior administrative posts at universities, in politics, or in business, although the few who rise to the top receive much publicity.

In 1884 a handful of women entered university; in 1984 women comprise about fifty percent of the entire student body. Now, as then, university women usually come from successful or supportive families. Several of these contributors pay tribute to fathers especially.

Laura Sabia, former Chair of the Ontario Status of Women Council, credits her father with encouraging the attitude which she describes as “fiercely feminist.” She also recounts how, in 1967, at a Canadian Congress of Labour conference, she was told, “You’re not one of us. You’re educated, and everything has been handed to you.”

Gretta Chambers, in “Reflections and Recollections,” emphasizes that, even so, a radical change is needed in the attitude of women, as well as in society. “If ordinary women cannot take political power in their stride, the rule will never change and these exceptions will continue to be viewed as anomalies.”

These exceptions make excellent reading; but one hopes that the second centennial will see women taking their fair share of political power and responsibility.