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“The administration remained deeply suspicious of us for at
least a decade,” according to Armatage.
There were so few tenured female faculty at U of T then,
that a male professor, Ronnie de Sousa, served as one
of the early program directors. Says de Sousa: “It was thought
that women suffered from not being taken seriously,
and that I might be able to get more out of the administration
in those early times. I regard myself as a feminist, and I
was glad to help out.” Indeed, he continues to teach in the
program.
Other early directors included Lorna Marsden, who would
become president of Wilfrid Laurier University then York
University, and Chaviva Hošek, later president of the National
Action Committee on the Status of Women and director of
policy for the federal Liberals during the Chrétien years.
Says Hošek: “People like Kay were the real heroes for the guts
they had. They had heavy teaching loads and short-term
contracts, little research time, and they had to convince other
departments to hire faculty who could also teach women’s
studies courses, and they did it in a very fragile job situation
with no tenure.”
Armatage eventually became a professor appointed to the
cinema studies and women’s studies programs, and took a
series of leadership roles in the latter, helping it become the
Institute for Women & Gender Studies. It earned departmental
status in 2005.
The Feminist
Revolution at U of T
Milestones over more than a century
1885 The first five women
graduate from U of T,
including Margaret and
Catherine Brown (daughters
of The Globe newspaper
founder, George
Brown), who both earned
BAs in modern languages.
1906 The university’s first
female associate professors
are named within
the School of Household
Science: Principal Annie
Laird and chemist
Clara Benson. Both were
named the first female full
professors in 1920.
1921 The U of T Varsity
Blues women’s hockey
team hits the ice for the
first time. The following
year, they win the first
women’s intercollegiate
hockey championship.
1970s Thanks to student
activists, U of T’s first
on-site child-care facility,
Campus Community
Co-op Daycare Centre,
is created.
1971 Two women’s studies
courses are established,
leading to the launch of a
women’s studies program
in 1974.
1972 Women are admitted
to Hart House, a maleonly
facility since its
opening in 1919. (This is
followed by Massey
College’s admission of
women in 1974.)
1973 Jill Ker Conway is
named vice-president at
the university – making
her the first woman in
an academic leadership
position at U of T.
1984 The Status of
Women Office, which
works toward full gender
equity at U of T for students,
staff and faculty,
is established.
2005 Dr. Catharine
Whiteside is appointed
the first female dean of
medicine at U of T. The
following year, Prof. Mayo
Moran is named the first
female dean of law and
Prof. Cristina Amon the first
female dean of applied
science and engineering.
Clockwise from top: Women grads from the early 1900s; Principal Annie Laird;
early women hockey players; Dr. Catharine Whiteside; women’s studies class, 1975;
Jill Ker Conway
36 www.magazine.utoronto.ca