“You just felt the collective wind being knocked out of us”: The deinstitutionalization of feminism and the survival of women's organizing in Canada

SynopsisThis paper examines the current dynamics of the Canadian women's movement in the wake of sweeping fiscal policy decisions aimed at deinstitutionalizing feminism. Following a historical overview of the movement, we employ qualitative interviews with feminist activists across the country to “take stock” of the movement. We examine how feminist organizations struggle to negotiate the pressures of diminished and inadequate funding and changing relations with the state. We document the faltering organizational infrastructure at the national level and the “trickle-down” effects of this to provincial and local organizations. We also document the strategies that activists adopt to circumvent the funding constraints and finally, the importance of the “social movement community” in supporting the infrastructure and ongoing activism of the movement (Staggenborg & Lecomte, 2009). We argue that while the erosion of the organizational infrastructure will have an impact on the ability of feminists to launch campaigns, gain attention and ultimately, protect existing gains we demonstrate that activists are reconceptualizing feminist activism in Canada, maintaining networks and developing new activist strategies.