Our 100 Years

The Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW) celebrated their 100th Anniversary in 2019. To commemorate this milestone a book entitled ‘Our 100 Years’ was published and is available from Second Story Press in Toronto.

As the book’s Introduction explains, the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW) was “born out of the struggle by 19 and early 20th Century women to gain admittance to Canadian universities.” They were a small group of privileged , accomplished women who also faced the issue of what to do with their education once they graduated. Would they forsake motherhood and marriage for a profession or would they follow the more “traditional” roles.

This book addresses that conflict as it tells the story of CFUW’s history. It is organized in chronological fashion with chapters following a decade-by-decade progression.

It is a wonderful account of CFUW and it’s members throughout the last 100 years, written by Dianne Dodd a historian and non-member chosen, for this project, in order to present a broad perspective of the issues and events that shaped the past 100 years of the Women’s Movement and CFUW’s involvement and changes over these years.

CFUW came about to support women’s learning and provide fellowship to the small minority of women with a university education. Later, as university education became more popular for women, the membership broadened and the focus reached out to include the needs of their communities and always to advocate for equal rights for women.

The author, Dianne Dodd, presents a very clear and detailed account of CFUW’s history and its place in  the history of the women’s movement during this time frame.

More about Our 100 Years in the next post.