One of Canada’s foremost experts on women and the law, Constance Backhouse of the Faculty of Law, Common Law Section, is one of five prominent scholars from Canadian universities to receive a 2008 Killam Prize. The prizes are awarded annually by the Canada Council for the Arts.
A highly regarded scholar and human rights advocate, Professor Backhouse has garnered many distinctions and awards for her writing on sexual harassment in the workplace and on other forms of gender and race discrimination.
Professor Backhouse’s long-range research, which will benefit from the $100,000 prize, is designed to chronicle some of the history of the Canadian feminist movement after 1960, sometimes referred to as the “second wave” of the women’s movement.
“Canadian feminism is as complex as the country that spawned it. The movement contains white, Aboriginal, Asian-Canadian, African-Canadian, and other racialized communities of women. It stretches across every geographical region. The feminism of Quebec, of course, represents yet another distinct layer.,” says Backhouse. “The Killam funding will help to ensure that the richness and diversity of this marvellous movement is encompassed in the research to follow.”
While an examination of the history of feminism can mean confronting inherent inequities in Canada’s past, Professor Backhouse thinks many people “would be surprised by the wonderful sense of humour many Canadian feminists have developed, and by the amazing sense of exhilaration and inspiration that infuses the movement.” She hopes her research will contribute to an expansion of equality within Canadian society.
Professor Backhouse, who holds a University Research Chair and was appointed Distinguished University Professor at the University of Ottawa in 2003, will receive her award at a ceremony on June 16 in Vancouver.
