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:
“It was in and about the Martinmas time,
When the green leaves were afalling,
That Sir John Graeme, in the West Country,
Fell in love with Barbara Allan.”
—Unknown. Bonny Barbara Allan (l. 1–4)
“However diligent she may be, however dedicated, no mother can escape the larger influences of culture, biology, fate . . . until we can actually live in a society where mothers and children genuinely matter, ours is an essentially powerless responsibility. Mothers carry out most of the work orders, but most of the rules governing our lives are shaped by outside influences.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)