REAL Women of Canada
Encyclopedia
REAL Women of Canada is a socially conservative
lobby group in Canada
. The organization was founded in 1983.
REAL stands for "Realistic, Equal, Active, for Life". The group believes that the nuclear family
is the most important unit in Canadian society
, and that the fragmentation of the Canadian family is a primary cause of social disorder. It lobbies the Government of Canada
in favour of legislation to promote the Judeo-Christian
belief of proper family life, and to support homemaking
. It is also opposed to feminism
, abortion
and homosexuals rights (and same-sex marriage in Canada
as well).
The group has intervened in Supreme Court of Canada
cases such as R. v. Morgentaler (1993)
and M. v. H.
(1999). In R. v. Sullivan
(1991) it argued that a fetus
is a person
.
Its objectives are, according to its website:
Part of their economic policies to help meet their objectives are increased tax relief for single-income families, families with children, and individuals with children
.
REAL Women is similar in political and social outlook to Phyllis Schlafly
's Eagle Forum
and to Concerned Women for America
in the United States
.
, 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. 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.
Social conservatism
Social Conservatism is primarily a political, and usually morally influenced, ideology that focuses on the preservation of what are seen as traditional values. Social conservatism is a form of authoritarianism often associated with the position that the federal government should have a greater role...
lobby group in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. The organization was founded in 1983.
REAL stands for "Realistic, Equal, Active, for Life". The group believes that the nuclear family
Nuclear family
Nuclear family is a term used to define a family group consisting of a father and mother and their children. This is in contrast to the smaller single-parent family, and to the larger extended family. Nuclear families typically center on a married couple, but not always; the nuclear family may have...
is the most important unit in Canadian society
Society
A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...
, and that the fragmentation of the Canadian family is a primary cause of social disorder. It lobbies the Government of Canada
Government of Canada
The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council...
in favour of legislation to promote the Judeo-Christian
Judeo-Christian
Judeo-Christian is a term used in the United States since the 1940s to refer to standards of ethics said to be held in common by Judaism and Christianity, for example the Ten Commandments...
belief of proper family life, and to support homemaking
Homemaker
Homemaking is a mainly American term for the management of a home, otherwise known as housework, housekeeping or household management...
. It is also opposed to feminism
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
, abortion
Abortion in Canada
Abortion in Canada is not limited by the law . While some non-legal obstacles exist, Canada is one of only a few nations with no legal restrictions on abortion. Regulations and accessibility vary between provinces....
and homosexuals rights (and same-sex marriage in Canada
Same-sex marriage in Canada
On July 20, 2005, Canada became the fourth country in the world and the first country in the Americas to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide with the enactment of the Civil Marriage Act which provided a gender-neutral marriage definition...
as well).
The group has intervened in Supreme Court of Canada
Supreme Court of Canada
The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court of Canada and is the final court of appeals in the Canadian justice system. The court grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants each year to appeal decisions rendered by provincial, territorial and federal appellate courts, and its decisions...
cases such as R. v. Morgentaler (1993)
R. v. Morgentaler (1993)
R. v. Morgentaler [1993] 3 S.C.R. 463, was a decision by the Supreme Court of Canada invalidating a provincial attempt to regulate abortions in Canada. This followed the 1988 decision R. v. Morgentaler, which had struck down the federal abortion law as a breach of section 7 of the Canadian Charter...
and M. v. H.
M. v. H.
M. v. H. [1999] 2 S.C.R. 3, is a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of Canada on the rights of same-sex couples to equal treatment under the Constitution of Canada....
(1999). In R. v. Sullivan
R. v. Sullivan
R. v. Sullivan, [1991] 1 S.C.R. 489 was a decision by the Supreme Court of Canada on negligence and whether a partially born fetus is a person.-Background:Two individuals were hired as midwives, though they were not members of the medical profession...
(1991) it argued that a fetus
Fetus
A fetus is a developing mammal or other viviparous vertebrate after the embryonic stage and before birth.In humans, the fetal stage of prenatal development starts at the beginning of the 11th week in gestational age, which is the 9th week after fertilization.-Etymology and spelling variations:The...
is a person
Person
A person is a human being, or an entity that has certain capacities or attributes strongly associated with being human , for example in a particular moral or legal context...
.
Its objectives are, according to its website:
- To reaffirm that the family is society’s most important unit, since the nurturing of its members is best accomplished in the family setting.
- To promote the equality, advancement and well being of women, recognizing them as interdependent members of society, whether in the family, workplace or community.
- To promote, secure and defend legislation which upholds what it considers the Judeo-Christian understanding of marriage and family life.
- To support government and social policies that make homemaking possible for women who, out of necessity, would otherwise have to take employment outside the home.
- To support the right to life of all innocent individuals from conception to natural death.
Part of their economic policies to help meet their objectives are increased tax relief for single-income families, families with children, and individuals with children
Single parent
Single parent is a term that is mostly used to suggest that one parent has most of the day to day responsibilities in the raising of the child or children, which would categorize them as the dominant caregiver...
.
REAL Women is similar in political and social outlook to Phyllis Schlafly
Phyllis Schlafly
Phyllis McAlpin Stewart Schlafly is a Constitutional lawyer and an American politically conservative activist and author who founded the Eagle Forum. She is known for her opposition to modern feminism ideas and for her campaign against the proposed Equal Rights Amendment...
's Eagle Forum
Eagle Forum
Eagle Forum is a conservative interest group in the United States founded by Phyllis Schlafly in 1972 and is the parent organization that also includes the Eagle Forum Education and Legal Defense Fund and the Eagle Forum PAC. The Eagle Forum has been primarily focused on social issues; it describes...
and to Concerned Women for America
Concerned Women for America
Concerned Women for America is a conservative Christian public policy group active in the United States best known for its stance against abortion...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
History
In January, 1983, Judy ErolaJudy Erola
Judith Erola, née Jacobson, PC is a former Canadian politician, who represented the riding of Nickel Belt in the Canadian House of Commons from 1980 to 1984. She was a member of the Liberal Party....
, 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. 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
National Action Committee on the Status of Women
The National Action Committee on the Status of Women is a Canadian feminist activist organization. NAC was founded in 1971 as a pressure group to lobby for the implementation of the 167 recommendations made in the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada's 1970 report on matters such as...
. 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
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada. It forms the first part of the Constitution Act, 1982...
. 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
No-fault divorce
No-fault divorce is a divorce in which the dissolution of a marriage requires neither a showing of wrong-doing of either party nor any evidentiary proceedings at all...
; 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
Flora MacDonald
Flora Isabel MacDonald, is a Canadian politician.Born in North Sydney, Nova Scotia, she worked in administration for the Progressive Conservative Party for several years, prior to becoming involved in electoral politics....
as well as their campaigns.