Northern Woman Journal
Periodical profile published 1983

Year Published:  1983
Resource Type:  Serial Publication (Periodical)
Cx Number:  CX2697

Abstract: 
THE NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL, published in Thunder Bay, Ontario, provides a feminist perspective on a wide range of local, national and international events and issues.

As a follow-uo to a Woman and Pensions Conference held in Thunder Bay in May, the JOURNAL's two final issues of 1982 (7-4 and 7-5) highlight the need for pension reform and present proposals for action. Condensed versions of conference presentations on pensions by several experts detail tha reasons why women in particular are not adequately covered. The current design of the Canada Pension Plan sistematically discriminates against women. Work women do in the home, as well as the fact that women hold down the lowest paying jobs, is not reconized. Spouses are also treated unequally. One of the speakers at the conference wnet so far as to say that any suggestion that there isa contradiction between the interest of women at home and women in the labour force, in terms of homemaker participation in pension plans, is erroneous. To make matters worse, pension reform gets used as a bargaining tool in federal-provincial fiscal negotiations. The full Conference Report on Women abd Pebsions is available free of charge from the Northern Women's Centre, 316 Bay St., Thunder Bay.

Other articles report on actions being taken to deal with violence against women. At the local level, a public education project on wife battering is being undertaken by the Thunder Bay Women's Centre. The rationale that such violence is an inherent part of society is challenged. New anthropological evidence indicates thta societies differ markedly, ranging from "raoe free" through "rape present" to "rape prone". This suggest a need for further investigation of the conditions that contribute to those differences, which can lead to new strategies for change.