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Runaway Wives and Rogue Feminists: The Origins of the Women’s Shelter Movement in Canada
In the supposedly enlightened ’60s and ’70s, violence against women was widespread. It wasn’t talked about, and women had few, if any, options to escape their abusers. Yet in 1973 ― with no statistics, no money and little public support ― five disparate groups of Canadian women quietly opened Canada’s first battered women’s shelters. Today, there are well over 600.
In Runaway Wives and Rogue Feminists, journalist Margo Goodhand tracks down the “rogue feminists” whose work forged an underground railway for women and children, weaving their stories into an unforgettable ― and until now untold ― history.
As they lobbied for funding, scrounged for furniture and fended off outraged husbands, these women marked a defining moment in Canadian history, triggering monumental changes in government, schools, courts and law enforcement. But was it enough to stop the cycle of violence? Forty years later, these pioneers describe how and why Canada has lost its ground in the battle for women’s rights.
In Runaway Wives and Rogue Feminists, journalist Margo Goodhand tracks down the “rogue feminists” whose work forged an underground railway for women and children, weaving their stories into an unforgettable ― and until now untold ― history.
As they lobbied for funding, scrounged for furniture and fended off outraged husbands, these women marked a defining moment in Canadian history, triggering monumental changes in government, schools, courts and law enforcement. But was it enough to stop the cycle of violence? Forty years later, these pioneers describe how and why Canada has lost its ground in the battle for women’s rights.
168 pages, Paperback
Published September 1, 2017
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237 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
March 17, 2018
It took me a long time to finish this slim volume detailing the establishment of women's shelters in Canada, partially because I work in a transitional living program for women experiencing homelessness. I have yet to meet a woman who uses our programs that has not experienced abuse. This history and the initial pushback / denial that VAW shelters face is important to know, as our work still lacks the funding to provide beds for women who need them. I love that these founders were so passionate and angry at the injustice. We need to be angry. We need more spaces for women. We need more beds. We need more funding. We need help with mental health, addictions, child care and immigration. We need to acknowledge the violence of colonialism that disproportionally forces indigenous women into precarious positions. We need you to see ALL women as people worthy of respect and dignity, not just the ones deemed 'worthy' or 'respectable'. We need to address the reality of the feminization of poverty & rampant devaluation of 'women's' work. We need so much and we need it now.
October 16, 2017
When the public hears about feminism, it is often the American feminist movement that is mentioned. Feminism is very much part of Canadian her story. This book is an appreciation to all those women who fought hard to have a place for women to escape their violent male partners. Margo Goodhand did a great job at recording the struggles feminist face while creating a wonderful movement for women’s liberation in Canada. Thank you Margo for keeping our her story alive. Young women need to read this book.
March 28, 2018
Working in a shelter that Lee Lakeman co-founded, this was a super interesting read. The history of feminism is astounding.
January 22, 2021
So glad to have read this short but informative book on the history of the anti-violence movement in Canada. I am currently doing a practicum at a transition house and I am so grateful for the brave women who paved the way to make this work possible.
February 26, 2018
RATING: 4 STARS
(Review Not on Blog)
First of all, I am so excited that this is Canadian. Usually, when I read literature like this, it will pertain to Americans or Europeans. This thin volume covers more than I thought it would. It not only gives us a history of women's shelter but gives us an idea how far the underground movement reached from East to West. This book also names the players and how some of them managed to do so much in an area where there weren't resources, and the attitudes were quite different. To give it a personal touch there is the story of a woman and her daughters who were in this situation and how they persevered. I recommend this book to any one interested in history, women's studies, social sciences and feminism.
(Review Not on Blog)
First of all, I am so excited that this is Canadian. Usually, when I read literature like this, it will pertain to Americans or Europeans. This thin volume covers more than I thought it would. It not only gives us a history of women's shelter but gives us an idea how far the underground movement reached from East to West. This book also names the players and how some of them managed to do so much in an area where there weren't resources, and the attitudes were quite different. To give it a personal touch there is the story of a woman and her daughters who were in this situation and how they persevered. I recommend this book to any one interested in history, women's studies, social sciences and feminism.
January 25, 2018
This was fantastic!!! There should be more new books like this with a particular focus on the history of feminism in Canada. I also enjoyed that it brought in quite modern references. It was engaging and I loved that it went into so much detail about the women who created the shelters. My one wish would have been for more mention of the Maritimes.
December 9, 2017
So nice to review all the courageous women involved in the feminist movement in Canada. They saw a need to support abused women and pursued it until it became recognised and government supported. Too bad it is still needed. Margo did an amazing historical research of the topic.
April 17, 2018
What a great time to have this well written work published. It is a terrific “ mini history” of the incredible work of the women’s movement in establishing the shelter system in Canada. It also serves as a reminder that there is so much still to be done!
November 23, 2017
An excellent book about the history of the women's shelter movement. Well researched, with lots of informative interviews. Lots of personal stories and details. Necessary history.
January 6, 2018
TWs abound, as could be expected: violence against women, rape, sexual assualt, suicide, etc. There are some pretty graphic descriptions, and goes from the pre-WWII to 2017
4.5 stars
4.5 stars
August 19, 2018
This book really got to me. I really just felt so proud to be a proponent of the type of services that these brave women started back in the 70s.
The stories of how these women who didn't know each other just came together and struggled to succeed, lobby the government and try to make things work for women who needed a refuge from abusive partners to start a new life, it just hit me so hard. This work isn't easy and it makes me appreciate the work put in by the founders at the inception of women's shelters in Canada.
I really enjoyed learning about Rosemary Brown - whom I'd never heard of until reading this book. She's a powerhouse. I need to learn more about her for sure.
This was extremely well-written and cited and it made it easy for me to go back and find the links and the original Toronto Star article that was written about the first women's shelter. Found it using the Toronto Public Library Archives! Pretty cool stuff. Although the person who wrote that article was a dick, you know any publicity is good publicity because it made other women aware that there was a place to go so you can't really hate him too much.
I really liked the critique of the government's tightening of the reins on new programming and women's programming. There's so much that other organizations want to say and do but can't due to funding limitations and advocacy limitations. It's so good that that was addressed here.
Young feminists and young activists want to make changes and push the envelope, albeit with a more intersectional front - but they can't due to continuously coming up against funding limitations and advocacy restrictions all the time. As radical as we are on and offline, the government has made it that we can't be that radical in person; because being radical, challenging and taking a REAL good hard look into perverse economical/funding distribution and women's issues doesn't get you any money, it may get your initiatives destabilized and broken down -ask Stats Canada. Writer Margo Goodhand goes over that here as well.
Other challenges that were discussed here were Toxic Masculinity and how men's rights agencies have tried to pollute the progress that has been made by feminists. These are all challenges that 2K18 feminists have to battle. It's hard and intersectionality is paramount. I'm glad these conversations are included here something, it's something that's good to talk about and dissect. It's an important conversation to be had - how to navigate these new and continuously changing waters.
Overall this book was dope. I really enjoyed it and it was a quick read that explained so much; it gave props to the OGs and highlighted the new struggles of the YGs; I highly recommend.
The stories of how these women who didn't know each other just came together and struggled to succeed, lobby the government and try to make things work for women who needed a refuge from abusive partners to start a new life, it just hit me so hard. This work isn't easy and it makes me appreciate the work put in by the founders at the inception of women's shelters in Canada.
I really enjoyed learning about Rosemary Brown - whom I'd never heard of until reading this book. She's a powerhouse. I need to learn more about her for sure.
This was extremely well-written and cited and it made it easy for me to go back and find the links and the original Toronto Star article that was written about the first women's shelter. Found it using the Toronto Public Library Archives! Pretty cool stuff. Although the person who wrote that article was a dick, you know any publicity is good publicity because it made other women aware that there was a place to go so you can't really hate him too much.
I really liked the critique of the government's tightening of the reins on new programming and women's programming. There's so much that other organizations want to say and do but can't due to funding limitations and advocacy limitations. It's so good that that was addressed here.
Young feminists and young activists want to make changes and push the envelope, albeit with a more intersectional front - but they can't due to continuously coming up against funding limitations and advocacy restrictions all the time. As radical as we are on and offline, the government has made it that we can't be that radical in person; because being radical, challenging and taking a REAL good hard look into perverse economical/funding distribution and women's issues doesn't get you any money, it may get your initiatives destabilized and broken down -ask Stats Canada. Writer Margo Goodhand goes over that here as well.
Other challenges that were discussed here were Toxic Masculinity and how men's rights agencies have tried to pollute the progress that has been made by feminists. These are all challenges that 2K18 feminists have to battle. It's hard and intersectionality is paramount. I'm glad these conversations are included here something, it's something that's good to talk about and dissect. It's an important conversation to be had - how to navigate these new and continuously changing waters.
Overall this book was dope. I really enjoyed it and it was a quick read that explained so much; it gave props to the OGs and highlighted the new struggles of the YGs; I highly recommend.
January 27, 2020
See my full review here.
I really enjoyed this remarkable herstory of another Canadian first: in 1973, five disparate groups of determined women open transition houses in five Canadian cities all within a nine-month span. This is a short but difficult read, with stories of success and of failure, of women making new lives and women dying at their partners’ hands. Most frustrating is the fact the need exists today – despite four and a half decades of work to destigmatize domestic violence and shift social perceptions of masculinity. There is also much work to do addressing issues of human trafficking, wage disparity, racism and homophobia, and Goodhand finishes the book with a chapter on how third wave feminists are tackling these matters and more. Grand Forks area residents will find this at the Grand Forks and District Public Library.
I really enjoyed this remarkable herstory of another Canadian first: in 1973, five disparate groups of determined women open transition houses in five Canadian cities all within a nine-month span. This is a short but difficult read, with stories of success and of failure, of women making new lives and women dying at their partners’ hands. Most frustrating is the fact the need exists today – despite four and a half decades of work to destigmatize domestic violence and shift social perceptions of masculinity. There is also much work to do addressing issues of human trafficking, wage disparity, racism and homophobia, and Goodhand finishes the book with a chapter on how third wave feminists are tackling these matters and more. Grand Forks area residents will find this at the Grand Forks and District Public Library.
October 30, 2018
This book taught me a lot about the history of feminism in Canada that I wasn’t aware of, due to the focus on feminism in the United States. While I felt the story was a little disjointed, it was interesting and a very necessary historical record of the first battered women’s shelters in Canada. I really enjoyed the interviews with the founders, the connection to Chatelaine magazine, and some of the personal stories within the book. I worked in a women’s shelter and really appreciate the knowledge of how shelters came to be and what they went through to get where we are today.
June 17, 2019
An important piece of history and a painful reminder that the fight against male violence is all one step forward two steps back. If we don't remember our history it will get distorted. I'm glad this book recorded such a significant part of it.
September 24, 2018
Historically horror of societies' treatment of wife abuse. Sad and informative.
November 22, 2018
Not one reference to transgender women? Are they not a part of this history too? Docked one full star for this omission. Perhaps the second edition can improve on this.
October 24, 2019
This short book is in part a history of second wave feminism in Canada, focused on domestic violence. I wish it had been longer, but it's a vital look at domestic violence as violence against women.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews