Consciousness-Raising Groups in Montreal

Type of resource
Authors/collaborators
Title
Consciousness-Raising Groups in Montreal
Abstract
In response to the increasing role alternatives offered to women (circa 1970s) and to the emerging concepts regarding both sexes in Western society, the authors designed a study to tap the opinions, viewpoints, and suggestions for change of women in Anglophone Montreal consciousness-raising groups. An anonymous, self-administered questionnaire was drawn up to elicit responses of 45 consciousness-raising group members in five areas: (1) basic identifying data, (2) influence of family background, (3) characteristics and evaluation of the CR group, (4) attitudes towards marriage and family, (5) and attitudes towards feminism. The authors’ findings indicated that 60 percent of the sample population of consciousness-raising group women were married, the majority of them falling in the 22–30-year-old age bracket. Occupations of the subjects were diverse, with the majority of 25 percent being in the helping profession of "nurse, schoolteacher, and counsellor." Eighty per cent of the subjects had a college education or better, which made them, on average, better educated than either of their parents. The authors point out that the sample's desire for change in the spheres of marriage and child-rearing was apparent. Subjects proposed alternatives to the present institution of marriage and strongly supported equal sharing of responsibility for child-care by both sexes. However, the authors found that their perceptions of change appeared as somewhat more theoretical than as derived from personal experience. The authors concluded that consciousness-raising group implications concerning the resocialization of women were far-reaching, and that they could be considered a valuable form of self-help.
Type
Master's Research Report
University
McGill University
Place
Montreal
Date
1973
# of Pages
[viii]-193p.
Language
en
URL
Citation
Allen, Mary Dale, and Mary Anne Ferguson. “Consciousness-Raising Groups in Montreal.” Master’s Research Report, McGill University, 1973. https://escholarship.mcgill.ca/concern/reports/pr76f865g?locale=en.
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