WOMEN'S LIBERATION AT WLU
Similar to their overall involvement in student activism, WLU’s women’s liberation movement was much more subdued than that of other campuses. Women’s organizations on the campus remained scarce until November 1969 when an editorial in The Cord raised the question of women’s position in society to the WLU student body. Laurel Stuart, the author of this piece, recognized that women’s liberation groups were growing across Canada. She explained that:
“It is about time that women on this campus did something about the situation, in the classroom, on the campus. But more than that they should carefully examine their place in history and in society today […] It is hoped that this meeting will serve as a beginning for women on this campus to organize themselves – to launch a program of action and education.
By January 1970, just days before the pageant, a formal women’s liberation organization had been formed at WLU. The purpose of the organization was:
“The self education of women on this issue and consequently the development of a spokesperson; the presentation of the issue of women’s liberation to students at WLU; and to serve as an action group to eradicate discrimination and prejudice against women at WLU.”