Barbara Kay is a columnist with the National Post.
Kay is a graduate of the University of Toronto where she earned an undergraduate degree in English literature. She received a Master of Arts from McGill University and subsequently taught literature at Concordia University and several CEGEPs.
Beginning her journalism career as a book reviewer, Kay branched out into writing op/eds for the Post before becoming a columnist in 2003.
She also was a contributor and board member of the revived Cité libre in the 1990s.
In 2006 she was criticized for a series of articles accusing Quebec politicians of supporting Hezbollah during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. In 2007, the Quebec Press Council released a decision condemning Kay for "undue provocation" and "generalizations suitable to perpetuate prejudices".
In 2007, she wrote a column titled "Not in my backyard, either" in which she criticized Hasidic Jews for not integrating into the neighbourhoods in which they live and for being "self-segregating" and "cult-like". In 2008, she wrote another column criticizing Hasids in the Toronto area. She was accused of hating Jews as a result, her own Jewishness notwithstanding.
She a member of the Board of Governors of the student newspaper, The Prince Arthur Herald.
Her son is National Post Managing Editor Jonathan Kay.
Barbara Kay has spoken on National Television and at talks regarding her views on the rise of feminism to the detriment of men
Famous quotes containing the words barbara and/or kay:
“Children are extraordinarily precious members of society; they are exquisitely alert, sensitive, and conscious of their surroundings; and they are extraordinarily vulnerable to maltreatment or emotional abuse by adults who refuse to give them the profound respect and affection to which they are unconditionally entitled.”
—Wisdom of the Elders, quoted in Kids Are Worth It, by Barbara Coloroso, ch. 1 (1994)
“With two sons born eighteen months apart, I operated mainly on automatic pilot through the ceaseless activity of their early childhood. I remember opening the refrigerator late one night and finding a roll of aluminum foil next to a pair of small red tennies. Certain that I was responsible for the refrigerated shoes, I quickly closed the door and ran upstairs to make sure I had put the babies in their cribs instead of the linen closet.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)