‘Fraternity for Frustrated Females’: The Gender Dynamics of 1970s Feminist Organising at the University of Waterloo, Canada

Abstract

In 1970, a male student at the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario deemed the campus women's liberation group to be a ‘fraternity for frustrated females’. This perspective was commonplace at the supposedly liberal school, as male dissent against autonomous women's organising continued throughout the early 1970s. While women organised protests against sexist campus events, held consciousness-raising groups and encouraged discussion about gender roles in society, many male students turned away from women's pleas for change and were not receptive to encouraging equality on campus. This research examines the attempted involvement of male students in the women's liberation movement at the University of Waterloo and the anti-feminist rhetoric that percolated on campus. By using a micro-history of the University of Waterloo and analysing the student newspaper, The Chevron, it illustrates the ways in which women students organised despite backlash from male students and the daily sexism women faced on campus. It reveals the challenges women faced in gaining equality and the climate of youth masculinity in a period of tumultuous social change.