REAL Women of Canada - History

History

In January 1983, Judy Erola, who was the federal cabinet minister for the status of women in Canada, issued a proposal to scrap the tax exemption for dependent spouses. This prompted many prominent figures in the anti abortion campaign to began speaking out in opposition, believing this change to be anti patriarchal. On September 3, 1983, a formalized group of Ontario women formed the beginnings of what would soon be known as REAL Women: Realistic, Equal, and Active for Life. During this time many mainstream feminist organizations, including the National Action Committee, were active in the movement for equal rights. REAL Women were dissatisfied with the way in which women’s issues were being addressed, as many housewives began to feel disparaged and attacked by these organizations. REAL formed as an anti-feminist counterweight to the National Action Committee on the Status of Women. A press conference was held in 1984 officially announcing their formation.

There has been a great discrepancy regarding the group’s claims of membership. The group claimed initially to have 10000 members, however this was later discredited. The year following their formation the group held its first national conference, claiming to have 20000 members, though this was unable to be verified.

REAL women claimed to represent a silent majority of women within Canada. They promoted the male headed, single breadwinner families, and believed that women should be homemakers, mothers and wives. Their views and beliefs greatly differed from the left wing stance taken by the National Action Committee on the Status of Women and its umbrella organizations, as REAL argued against the equality guarantees already enacted in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This is most evident when reviewing the 1987 REAL president, Lynne Schime’s, statement that “REAL women want to look at issues such as how a woman can pick a husband to fulfill her needs” They believed that women are naturally nurturing, emotional, and dependent beings, suited to motherhood. It is for this reason they utilize the slogan “equal but different” while pushing for further tax credits for stay at home mothers. A key goal of the organization is to denounce the equal rights clause in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, in addition to protesting feminist movements and organizations. They argued that government spending and funding of these feminist organizations was undermining traditional gender and family relations. Since the genesis of REAL, the movement has made numerous suggestions to on how to augment the options and resources available to families.

There are many key issues that REAL are directly opposed to which organizations such as NAC advocate for and push to enact. The first and most dominant of the issues is that of abortion. While NAC fight to promote a woman’s right to choose, REAL believe that a fetus is a person, making abortion akin to murder. Another key issue taken up by this activist group concern childcare. They oppose the idea of the universal childcare model as they believe that governmental childcare represents a loss of parental control, and furthers the role of the state within the family. They argued the funding would be better spent on things such as courses on parenting skills. While many feminist organizations believe a person should be paid based on the work they put into a job as opposed to their gender, REAL opposed this as well. REAL's view is that equal pay for women would reduce the income disparity between genders, draw women into the paid labour force, and improve the economic position of female headed households. This represents a major threat to the family values they hold in such high esteem. They believed this would demean women while breaking down the traditional family. Additionally, they believed this would destroy the free market economy, as women taking men’s jobs would undermine the ideology of the family wage system. Other things they oppose include anti family violence programs, which they claim encourage hatred toward men; no-fault divorce; and protection for gay and lesbian people. The overarching goal of REAL Women is to support a particular way of life as reflected in the traditional family model, and these were all issues they believed contradict that nostalgic 1950s nuclear family. They sincerely believe their activism contribute to women’s equality and will improve their lives. Their monthly newsletter, Reality, mirrored American conservative movement. It regularly attacked feminists such as Flora MacDonald as well as their campaigns.