Runaway Wives and Rogue Feminists: The Origins of the Women’s Shelter Movement in Canada
Margo Goodhand
Fernwood Publishing
Even in 2018, we know there’s still a lot to be done in regards to women’s rights and resources. But, since the 1970s, some extraordinary Canadian women have worked hard to address the needs of women needing to leave domestic abuse by starting and running women’s shelters. Their efforts produced women’s shelters that are so effective they’ve been emulated around the world.
This book shares the inspiring stories and all-but-forgotten histories of the women who started some of Canada’s earliest shelters, as told to the former editor in chief of the Edmonton Journal. Their stories are tragic, frustrating and at times a little too reminiscent of challenges facing women today, but ultimately it’s a feel-good book about women succeeding in their mission to help other women. This is a moment in Canadian history that needs to be remembered, if not learned for the first time.
This article appears in the May 2018 issue of Avenue Edmonton
